Change in behavior of Date.toLocaleDateString() in version 4.2.3

[scottbrady]

I upgraded from version 4.2.2 to version 4.2.3 and noticed a change in the behavior of toLocaleDateString.

This code returns a different string between the two versions:

new Date('2014/09/05').toLocaleDateString()

4.2.2: Friday, September 05, 2014
4.2.3: 9/5/2014

I don't see any notes in the changelog that would suggest this behavior would change.

I'm installing nodejs on Ubuntu Precise using the packages from NodeSource.

[ChALkeR]

/cc @srl295, I guess.

[evanlucas]

Interesting, I'm getting the same on OS X for those versions.

Can you try running node -pe process.versions.icu on both versions?

[targos]

I have the same result as @evanlucas on Fedora 23

[bnoordhuis]

If I had to venture a guess, it would be that the NodeSource packages weren't built with ICU support until v4.2.3. "Friday, September 05, 2014" is the formatting for non-i18n builds, "9/5/2014" for small-icu (English only) builds.

It shouldn't affect the binaries from https://nodejs.org/dist/v4.2.2/, those have been built with small-icu for some time now.

[scottbrady]

Results from running node -pe process.versions.icu.

4.2.2: undefined
4.2.3: 56.1

Looks like something changed with ICU in the NodeSource build of nodejs packages from version 4.2.2 to 4.2.3.

[scottbrady]

Probably related to this issue: nodesource/distributions#168

Looking at the output of process.config between NodeSource's packaged versions shows the icu library being compiled in starting with 4.2.3.

[ChALkeR]

I don't think that there is anything actionable here, in both cases the method behaves as it should, given the build configuration. Also, this is not related to builds on nodejs.org. Can we close this?

[scottbrady]

Looks like a change in NodeSource's compilation process, not a change in Node proper. Closing. Thanks!

[rvagg]

Yes, sorry, it's to do with a change that was made in the compilation process. We have been building without ICU until now and just turned it on. Frankly it was an oversight and we were keen to rectify it as soon as we became aware of it. The binaries you get from the NodeSource Linux distributions should now be equivalent to the ones available for download at nodejs.com except they are compiled with the appropriate toolchain for each distribution.

/cc @chrislea