Invalid date value

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Unfortunately we can't fix it, because your description didn't include enough information. You may find it helpful to read "How to report bugs effectively" http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html. We'd be grateful if you would then provide a more complete description of the problem.
 We have instructions on debugging some types of problems. http://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingProcedures
At a minimum, we need:
1. the specific steps or actions you took that caused you to encounter the problem,
2. the behavior you expected, and
3. the behavior you actually encountered (in as much detail as possible).
Thanks!

Hi Pedro,
Thank you for your prompt reply.

I believed that I had given sufficient information. If you can suggest what I
have omitted, I will gladly provide further details.

Best wishes,
George Francis

This is what I have already submitted:-

Public bug reported:

Binary package hint: evolution

After installing English, UK language support, the year value in the
birthday/anniversary date field of the contact manager becomes a 2 digit
number. Trying to enter a birth-date/anniversary, e.g., 1938, is
impossible, resulting in the error message, 'invalid date value'. It
worked OK when I used the locale settings for Zurich.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Wed Dec 19 13:41:57 2007
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 7.10
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/evolution
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: evolution 2.12.1-0ubuntu1
PackageArchitecture: i386
ProcCmdline: evolution --component=mail
ProcCwd: /home/geofra
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: evolution
Uname: Linux office-02 2.6.22-14-generic #1 SMP Tue Dec 18 08:02:57 UTC 2007
i686 GNU/Linux

** Affects: evolution (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

** Tags: apport-bug

--
Invalid date value
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/177460
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of the bug.

--

On Wednesday 19 December 2007 14:08:16 Pedro Villavicencio wrote:
> Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu
> better. Unfortunately we can't fix it, because your description didn't
> include enough information. You may find it helpful to read "How to report
> bugs effectively" http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html.
> We'd be grateful if you would then provide a more complete description of
> the problem. We have instructions on debugging some types of problems.
> http://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingProcedures At a minimum, we need:
> 1. the specific steps or actions you took that caused you to encounter the
> problem, 2. the behavior you expected, and
> 3. the behavior you actually encountered (in as much detail as possible).
> Thanks!
>
> ** Changed in: evolution (Ubuntu)
> Importance: Undecided => Low
> Assignee: (unassigned) => Ubuntu Desktop Bugs (desktop-bugs)
> Status: New => Incomplete

--
Philip G Francis
The Links
Grosvenor Road
Llandrindod Wells
Powys
LD1 5NA
UK

e: <email address hidden>
t: +44 0 1 597 823943
m: +44 0 7772 867749

This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are private and intended
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Nothing in this e-mail message constitutes a contractual or other legal
commitment on the part of P G Francis.

Is this reproducible with another new user on the machine? if so can you tell us a few steps in order to trigger the bug? , thanks.

I am doing a clean installation on a different PC.

I'll provide a full report soon.

On Wednesday 19 December 2007 17:20:08 Pedro Villavicencio wrote:
> Is this reproducible with another new user on the machine? if so can you
> tell us a few steps in order to trigger the bug? , thanks.

--
Philip G Francis
The Links
Grosvenor Road
Llandrindod Wells
Powys
LD1 5NA
UK

e: <email address hidden>
t: +44 0 1 597 823943
m: +44 0 7772 867749

This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are private and intended
solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.

Nothing in this e-mail message constitutes a contractual or other legal
commitment on the part of P G Francis.

Bug 177460 - More detailed information

After running the Ubuntu live CD on a spare PC, the default birthday field
format is mm/dd/yyyy, so no problem here.

Following the graphical installation route, which a novice user might take, I
did the following:-

Request: 'Where are you?'
Repsonse: City - London, Selected Region - UK.

Request: Keyboard
Response: UK selected

Request: Prepare disk space (manual option)
 /dev/sda1 swap 789MB
 /dev/sda2 ext3 / 7863MB (format)
 /dev/sda3 ext3 /home 11367MB (format)

Request: Who are you?
Response: Personal details entered

Proceed with installation.
--

Post (default) installation to hard disk:-
Graphical user login.
Click Evolution mail icon on top menu bar.
would
Using Evolution setup assistant I entered personal information.
Request: Timezone
Response: Europe/London

Proceed to contact manager and create a new address book entry.
Select the personal information tab and go to birthday field.
The date field format is now showing as dd/mm/yy. (only two digits for the
year)
Attempting to enter the date as 29/03/1941 invokes on screen message, 'invalid
date value'
--

Clicked on icon at top right of upper menu bar and installed 148 new
patches/updates.
Exit via red icon at right of upper menu bar.
Machine rebooted.
--

Graphical user login.
Proceed to contact manager and create a new address book entry.
Select the personal information tab and go to birthday field.
The date field format is now showing as dd/mm/yy. (only two digits for the
year)
Attempting to enter the date as 29/03/1941 invokes on screen message, 'invalid
date value'
--

I wonder if there's an easy way that my Mum, who knows nothing about
computers, could use to enter a four digit year?
--
End of report.

I experience this too, on both my main PC and laptop. It's a real pain. In both cases, the locale is set to UK, and the year part of the date field is only two digits long.

Evolution version is 2.12.1
Ubuntu version is 7.10 (gutsy)
Kernel is 2.6.22-14-generic
Gnome version is 2.20.1

CPU is an AMD Athlon XP-M on the main machine.

could you try if that's still an issue in hardy?

Fantastic! It works a treat now!

Thanks.

    Merlin

closing the bug since that works correctly now