Thread

1. PostgreSQL Windows Installer defaults to "English_United States.1252" when choosing locale starting with "English"

   Ben Caspi <benc@aidoc.com> — 2025-07-06T11:06:05Z

   Hi,
   
   In the past we reached out to you about the PostgreSQL Windows
   installer not having an option to modify the locale on installation,
   resulting in failures during upgrades due to mismatched locale versions.
   
   As a result you released installer version 15.13, which included a more
   inclusive locale flag which solves our problem.
   
   However, we recently noticed that when picking a locale starting with
   "English", the value post installation will always be "English_United
   States.1252".
   
   For example, we installed using locale "English, United Kingdom" and
   expected the locale value post installation to be "English_United
   Kingdom.1252". However, we saw it was installed with the "English_United
   States.1252" locale instead.
   
   We then tested multiple different locales and found this issue repeats only
   when choosing locales starting with "English".
   
   Is this the intended behavior? If not, we would appreciate a fix to this
   issue as it's blocking us from upgrading our machines holding older
   PostgreSQL versions.
   
   Thank you!
   
   -- 
   
   [image: photo]
   
   Ben Caspi
   DevOps Engineer
   
   www.aidoc.com  |  benc@aidoc.com
   
   [image: linkedin] <https://www.linkedin.com/company/aidoc/>
   
   [image: twitter] <https://twitter.com/aidocmed>
   
   [image: App Banner Image] <https://www.aidoc.com/book-a-demo/>
   

2. Re: PostgreSQL Windows Installer defaults to "English_United States.1252" when choosing locale starting with "English"

   Sandeep Thakkar <sandeep.thakkar@enterprisedb.com> — 2025-07-07T12:20:40Z

   Hi,
   
   I'll have a look and revert.
   
   On Sun, Jul 6, 2025 at 5:09 PM Ben Caspi <benc@aidoc.com> wrote:
   
   > Hi,
   >
   > In the past we reached out to you about the PostgreSQL Windows
   > installer not having an option to modify the locale on installation,
   > resulting in failures during upgrades due to mismatched locale versions.
   >
   > As a result you released installer version 15.13, which included a more
   > inclusive locale flag which solves our problem.
   >
   > However, we recently noticed that when picking a locale starting with
   > "English", the value post installation will always be "English_United
   > States.1252".
   >
   > For example, we installed using locale "English, United Kingdom" and
   > expected the locale value post installation to be "English_United
   > Kingdom.1252". However, we saw it was installed with the "English_United
   > States.1252" locale instead.
   >
   > We then tested multiple different locales and found this issue repeats
   > only when choosing locales starting with "English".
   >
   > Is this the intended behavior? If not, we would appreciate a fix to this
   > issue as it's blocking us from upgrading our machines holding older
   > PostgreSQL versions.
   >
   > Thank you!
   >
   > --
   >
   > [image: photo]
   >
   > Ben Caspi
   > DevOps Engineer
   >
   > www.aidoc.com  |  benc@aidoc.com
   >
   > [image: linkedin] <https://www.linkedin.com/company/aidoc/>
   >
   > [image: twitter] <https://twitter.com/aidocmed>
   >
   > [image: App Banner Image] <https://www.aidoc.com/book-a-demo/>
   >
   >
   
   
   -- 
   Sandeep Thakkar
   

3. Re: PostgreSQL Windows Installer defaults to "English_United States.1252" when choosing locale starting with "English"

   Sandeep Thakkar <sandeep.thakkar@enterprisedb.com> — 2025-07-09T12:40:49Z

   Yes, you are correct. I got the same result. But it was correct when I
   chose the BCP-47 name like en-uk. Probably something to do with how initdb
   is handling the long names.
   
   On Mon, Jul 7, 2025 at 5:50 PM Sandeep Thakkar <
   sandeep.thakkar@enterprisedb.com> wrote:
   
   > Hi,
   >
   > I'll have a look and revert.
   >
   > On Sun, Jul 6, 2025 at 5:09 PM Ben Caspi <benc@aidoc.com> wrote:
   >
   >> Hi,
   >>
   >> In the past we reached out to you about the PostgreSQL Windows
   >> installer not having an option to modify the locale on installation,
   >> resulting in failures during upgrades due to mismatched locale versions.
   >>
   >> As a result you released installer version 15.13, which included a more
   >> inclusive locale flag which solves our problem.
   >>
   >> However, we recently noticed that when picking a locale starting with
   >> "English", the value post installation will always be "English_United
   >> States.1252".
   >>
   >> For example, we installed using locale "English, United Kingdom" and
   >> expected the locale value post installation to be "English_United
   >> Kingdom.1252". However, we saw it was installed with the "English_United
   >> States.1252" locale instead.
   >>
   >> We then tested multiple different locales and found this issue repeats
   >> only when choosing locales starting with "English".
   >>
   >> Is this the intended behavior? If not, we would appreciate a fix to this
   >> issue as it's blocking us from upgrading our machines holding older
   >> PostgreSQL versions.
   >>
   >> Thank you!
   >>
   >> --
   >>
   >> [image: photo]
   >>
   >> Ben Caspi
   >> DevOps Engineer
   >>
   >> www.aidoc.com  |  benc@aidoc.com
   >>
   >> [image: linkedin] <https://www.linkedin.com/company/aidoc/>
   >>
   >> [image: twitter] <https://twitter.com/aidocmed>
   >>
   >> [image: App Banner Image] <https://www.aidoc.com/book-a-demo/>
   >>
   >>
   >
   >
   > --
   > Sandeep Thakkar
   >
   >
   >
   
   -- 
   Sandeep Thakkar
   

4. Re: PostgreSQL Windows Installer defaults to "English_United States.1252" when choosing locale starting with "English"

   Thomas Munro <thomas.munro@gmail.com> — 2025-07-10T01:54:03Z

   On Thu, Jul 10, 2025 at 12:41 AM Sandeep Thakkar
   <sandeep.thakkar@enterprisedb.com> wrote:
   > Yes, you are correct. I got the same result. But it was correct when I chose the BCP-47 name like en-uk. Probably something to do with how initdb is handling the long names.
   
   What's the exact initdb command in this case?  I'm a bit confused
   about ""English, United Kingdom" vs "English_United Kingdom.1252".  I
   think maybe the Windows C library is doing this, because that first
   form isn't really a supported form, and it only manages to grok the
   first word with some best-match scheme?  I don't have Windows but I
   just pushed a stupid test program to CI to test that theory:
   
   #include <locale.h>
   #include <stdio.h>
   #include <stdlib.h>
   
   const char *or_null(const char *s)
   {
       return s == NULL ? "<null>" : s;
   }
   
   int
   main(int argc, char *argv[])
   {
       if (setlocale(LC_ALL, "English, United Kingdom") == NULL)
           printf("error 1\n");
       printf("got: %s\n", or_null(setlocale(LC_ALL, NULL)));
       if (setlocale(LC_ALL, "English_United Kingdom") == NULL)
           printf("error 2\n");
       printf("got: %s\n", or_null(setlocale(LC_ALL, NULL)));
       if (setlocale(LC_ALL, "English_United Kingdom.1252") == NULL)
           printf("error 3\n");
       printf("got: %s\n", or_null(setlocale(LC_ALL, NULL)));
       return EXIT_SUCCESS;
   }
   
   And lo and behold it printed:
   
   got: English_United States.1252
   got: English_United Kingdom.1252
   got: English_United Kingdom.1252
   
   Apparently it really needs that underscore.
   
   
   
   

5. Re: PostgreSQL Windows Installer defaults to "English_United States.1252" when choosing locale starting with "English"

   Sandeep Thakkar <sandeep.thakkar@enterprisedb.com> — 2025-07-13T10:52:27Z

   On Thu, Jul 10, 2025 at 7:24 AM Thomas Munro <thomas.munro@gmail.com> wrote:
   
   > On Thu, Jul 10, 2025 at 12:41 AM Sandeep Thakkar
   > <sandeep.thakkar@enterprisedb.com> wrote:
   > > Yes, you are correct. I got the same result. But it was correct when I
   > chose the BCP-47 name like en-uk. Probably something to do with how initdb
   > is handling the long names.
   >
   > What's the exact initdb command in this case?  I'm a bit confused
   > about ""English, United Kingdom" vs "English_United Kingdom.1252".  I
   > think maybe the Windows C library is doing this, because that first
   > form isn't really a supported form, and it only manages to grok the
   > first word with some best-match scheme?  I don't have Windows but I
   > just pushed a stupid test program to CI to test that theory:
   >
   > #include <locale.h>
   > #include <stdio.h>
   > #include <stdlib.h>
   >
   > const char *or_null(const char *s)
   > {
   >     return s == NULL ? "<null>" : s;
   > }
   >
   > int
   > main(int argc, char *argv[])
   > {
   >     if (setlocale(LC_ALL, "English, United Kingdom") == NULL)
   >         printf("error 1\n");
   >     printf("got: %s\n", or_null(setlocale(LC_ALL, NULL)));
   >     if (setlocale(LC_ALL, "English_United Kingdom") == NULL)
   >         printf("error 2\n");
   >     printf("got: %s\n", or_null(setlocale(LC_ALL, NULL)));
   >     if (setlocale(LC_ALL, "English_United Kingdom.1252") == NULL)
   >         printf("error 3\n");
   >     printf("got: %s\n", or_null(setlocale(LC_ALL, NULL)));
   >     return EXIT_SUCCESS;
   > }
   >
   > And lo and behold it printed:
   >
   > got: English_United States.1252
   > got: English_United Kingdom.1252
   > got: English_United Kingdom.1252
   >
   > Apparently it really needs that underscore.
   >
   
   Here is the initdb command:
   ---
   Executing: "C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\17\bin\initdb.exe"
   --pgdata="C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\17\data" --username="postgres"
   --encoding=UTF8
   --pwfile="C:\Users\sandeep\AppData\Local\Temp\postgresql_installer_c27ed92f26\212da2e5.tmp"
   --auth=scram-sha-256 --locale="English, United Kingdom"
   
   The files belonging to this database system will be owned by user "sandeep".
   This user must also own the server process.
   
   The database cluster will be initialized with locale "English_United
   States.1252".
   The default text search configuration will be set to "english".
   ...
   ...
   --
   
   If initdb needs the underscore, then I guess those names need to be
   converted in the script:
   https://github.com/EnterpriseDB/edb-installers/blob/REL-17/server/scripts/windows/getlocales.ps1
   
   
   -- 
   Sandeep Thakkar
   

6. Re: PostgreSQL Windows Installer defaults to "English_United States.1252" when choosing locale starting with "English"

   Sandeep Thakkar <sandeep.thakkar@enterprisedb.com> — 2025-08-19T10:35:15Z

   Hi Ben,
   
   The recent minor release includes the fix for this. The installer script
   converts the "English, <Country>" with "<English_<Country>" before passing
   the locale to initdb.exe. Please have a look.
   
   Thanks for the report.
   
   On Sun, Jul 13, 2025 at 4:22 PM Sandeep Thakkar <
   sandeep.thakkar@enterprisedb.com> wrote:
   
   >
   >
   > On Thu, Jul 10, 2025 at 7:24 AM Thomas Munro <thomas.munro@gmail.com>
   > wrote:
   >
   >> On Thu, Jul 10, 2025 at 12:41 AM Sandeep Thakkar
   >> <sandeep.thakkar@enterprisedb.com> wrote:
   >> > Yes, you are correct. I got the same result. But it was correct when I
   >> chose the BCP-47 name like en-uk. Probably something to do with how initdb
   >> is handling the long names.
   >>
   >> What's the exact initdb command in this case?  I'm a bit confused
   >> about ""English, United Kingdom" vs "English_United Kingdom.1252".  I
   >> think maybe the Windows C library is doing this, because that first
   >> form isn't really a supported form, and it only manages to grok the
   >> first word with some best-match scheme?  I don't have Windows but I
   >> just pushed a stupid test program to CI to test that theory:
   >>
   >> #include <locale.h>
   >> #include <stdio.h>
   >> #include <stdlib.h>
   >>
   >> const char *or_null(const char *s)
   >> {
   >>     return s == NULL ? "<null>" : s;
   >> }
   >>
   >> int
   >> main(int argc, char *argv[])
   >> {
   >>     if (setlocale(LC_ALL, "English, United Kingdom") == NULL)
   >>         printf("error 1\n");
   >>     printf("got: %s\n", or_null(setlocale(LC_ALL, NULL)));
   >>     if (setlocale(LC_ALL, "English_United Kingdom") == NULL)
   >>         printf("error 2\n");
   >>     printf("got: %s\n", or_null(setlocale(LC_ALL, NULL)));
   >>     if (setlocale(LC_ALL, "English_United Kingdom.1252") == NULL)
   >>         printf("error 3\n");
   >>     printf("got: %s\n", or_null(setlocale(LC_ALL, NULL)));
   >>     return EXIT_SUCCESS;
   >> }
   >>
   >> And lo and behold it printed:
   >>
   >> got: English_United States.1252
   >> got: English_United Kingdom.1252
   >> got: English_United Kingdom.1252
   >>
   >> Apparently it really needs that underscore.
   >>
   >
   > Here is the initdb command:
   > ---
   > Executing: "C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\17\bin\initdb.exe"
   > --pgdata="C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\17\data" --username="postgres"
   > --encoding=UTF8
   > --pwfile="C:\Users\sandeep\AppData\Local\Temp\postgresql_installer_c27ed92f26\212da2e5.tmp"
   > --auth=scram-sha-256 --locale="English, United Kingdom"
   >
   > The files belonging to this database system will be owned by user
   > "sandeep".
   > This user must also own the server process.
   >
   > The database cluster will be initialized with locale "English_United
   > States.1252".
   > The default text search configuration will be set to "english".
   > ...
   > ...
   > --
   >
   > If initdb needs the underscore, then I guess those names need to be
   > converted in the script:
   >
   > https://github.com/EnterpriseDB/edb-installers/blob/REL-17/server/scripts/windows/getlocales.ps1
   >
   >
   > --
   > Sandeep Thakkar
   >
   >
   >
   
   -- 
   Sandeep Thakkar