18.20, 20.12 update changed output of Date().toLocaleString('nl');

[cjutstraMaxedy]

Version

18.20.0, 20.12.0

Platform

Linux, Mac

Subsystem

No response

What steps will reproduce the bug?

in Node 18.19, 20.11:
> new Date().toLocaleString('nl');
'28-3-2024 08:17:14'
in Node 18.20, 20.12:
> new Date().toLocaleString('nl');
'28-3-2024, 08:17:14'
After the 18.20 update a comma was added after the date.

How often does it reproduce? Is there a required condition?

Always

What is the expected behavior? Why is that the expected behavior?

I would not expect output to just change. Broke some tests for us at least

new Date().toLocaleString('nl');
'28-3-2024 08:17:14'

What do you see instead?

new Date().toLocaleString('nl');
'28-3-2024, 08:17:14'

Additional information

No response

[cjutstraMaxedy]

Update, just tested this on node 20.12 and it has the same issue (not present in node 20.11)

[climba03003]

According to #51090 (comment)
The output is not guarantee to be the same over the same major.
You should never rely on the output of formatted date.

cc @flakey-bit
ICU 74.2 released on Dec 12 2023
Chromium picked it up on Mar 13 2024
So, it will eventually the same on Chromium / Chrome in later time.

[Rucadi]

According to #51090 (comment)
The output is not guarantee to be the same over the same major.
You should never rely on the output of formatted date.

cc @flakey-bit
ICU 74.2 released on Dec 12 2023
Chromium picked it up on Mar 13 2024
So, it will eventually the same on Chromium / Chrome in later time.

In my opinion, breaking changes that don't have positive sides or just for the sake of changing should not be allowed on the same major.
Only makes people lives harder and (maybe not up-to-best practices software but) already working software, that may be used in unimaginable contexts, fail.

[climba03003]

In my opiniom, breaking changes that don't have positive sides or just for the sake of changing should not be allowed on the same major.

I am not member of Node.js, I know it is not optimal and I asked for the same reason.
But the answer I received is NO. and here I just forward the same answer to you.

ICU data handling is hard, because it always changing and breaking.
Waiting until next major also not optimal either because some people may see as bug (outdated) too.

[aduh95]

breaking changes that don't have positive sides or just for the sake of changing should not be allowed on the same major.

The issue is that such changes are quite hard to detect, and even harder to decide if such change has a positive side or not – e.g. in this case, for someone who is not Dutch, it's hard to judge whether that comma is important or not. As you can imagine, there are much harder cases, and even with all the time in the world, there would be no way for us to try to assess each change.

I'm going to close this issue as "Won't fix".