MySQL Bugs: #59127: Charset docs don't indicate that locale support is build-in

Bug #59127	Charset docs don't indicate that locale support is build-in
Submitted:	23 Dec 2010 12:17	Modified:	3 Jan 2011 16:12
Reporter:	Daniël van Eeden	Email Updates:
Status:	Closed	Impact on me:	None
Category:	MySQL Server: Documentation	Severity:	S4 (Feature request)
Version:	5.5	OS:	Any
Assigned to:	Paul DuBois	CPU Architecture:	Any

Description:
The locale support documentation for 5.5 [1] does not describe what is needed or not needed for locale support.

[1] http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/locale-support.html

As far as I know MySQL doesn't use the locale support in the GNU C Library. MySQL uses its own build-in locale support as defined in sql/sql_locale.cc

So it's safe to use locales which are not listed in the output of 'locale -a'. And not all locales which are supported by the C library have to be supported by MySQL.

How to repeat:
Read docs

Suggested fix:
Add more specific documentation.

Changed Synopsis

That manual page clearly says:

"lc_time_names may be set to any of the following locale values.

..."

and presents explicit lists of values supported. What else should be added to that page and why?

The questions which are not answered by the docs are:
1. Is MySQL using the localization provided by the GNU C Library?
2. What is needed to support additional locales?
3. Why is locale X which is supported by my OS not available in MySQL?

Thank you for clarifications.

Thank you for your bug report. This issue has been addressed in the documentation. The updated documentation will appear on our website shortly, and will be included in the next release of the relevant products.

I added this clarification to the docs:

"The set of locales supported by MySQL may differ from those supported by your
operating system."

The locales that can be used are those listed, which is sufficient and complete. The particular support mechanism is an implementation issue, which presumably could change.

If there is a locale that you need that is not supported, please file a bug report and set Severity to "feature request". Thank you.