Common Locale Data Repository (CLDR) Project

Introduction

Latest Release: CLDR 1.3
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Press Release
CLDR 1.4 Planned Schedule
2005-05-31 Phase 1 Start: Design
	Get all the designs in place for changes in structure, and tools.
2005-07-31 Phase 1 Complete
2005-07-31 Phase 2 Start: Structure, Tools, Documentation
	Make all the DTD changes according to designs
	Incorporate descriptions into the documentation (web site + UTS #35), based on the design
	Make the tool changes to support new structure; improve data collection/display/vetting
	Incorporate notification in survey tool to alert people as to problems: collisions, exemplar chars not covering data, etc., and important missing data (including new data for new structure).
	Put out for public review
2005-09-30 Phase 2 Beta Release
	Finish Structure; Tools, Documentation updated to match. (Tool / document improvements could come afterwards, but nothing that would impact data collection).
2005-10-31 Phase 2 Complete
2005-10-31 Phase 3 Start: Data Incorporation & Vetting
	Request new data, incorporate;
	Put out for public review
2005-01-31 Phase 3 Beta Release
	Vet new data
2005-03-15 Release Freeze: Big Red Switch Start
2006-03-31 Phase 3 Complete, CLDR 1.4 Released

To support users in different languages, programs must not only use translated text, but must also be adapted to local conventions. These conventions differ by language or region and include the formatting of numbers, dates, times, and currency values, as well as support for differences in measurement units, text sorting order, and other services.

Most operating systems and many application programs currently maintain their own repositories of locale data to support these conventions. But such data are often incomplete, idiosyncratic, or gratuitously different from program to program. In the age of the internet, software components must work together seamlessly, without the problems caused by these discrepancies.  

The purpose of the Common Locale Data Repository project is to provide a general XML format for the exchange of locale information for use in application and system development, and to gather, store, and make available a common set of locale data generated in that format.

• For access to the data, see CLDR Releases.
• For a set of slides with an overview of CLDR, see CLDR Overview.
• For charts showing different aspects of the CLDR data, see Comparison Charts.
• To file bug reports or feature requests (including the submission of new data), or for feedback or comments related to CLDR, see Filing Bug Reports.
• The Data Formats page provides background information on the way that locale information is formatted; this is especially important when filing bugs.
• The XML format for the data is specified by UTS #35: Locale Data Markup Language (LDML) Specification.

The project is organized under the Unicode Common Locale Data Repository Technical Committee (CLDR-TC), governed by the CLDR-TC Procedures. The normal process for changing locale repository data is described in CLDR Process. For information about joining the Unicode Consortium, see Unicode Consortium.

History

The first CLDR version under the sponsorship of the Unicode Consortium was version 1.1. The CLDR project was originally developed under the sponsorship of the Linux Application Development Environment (aka LADE) Workgroup of the Free Standards Group's OpenI18N (formerly known as Linux Internationalization Initiative or Li18nux) team. CLDR 1.0 was approved on 2004.01.16 by the OpenI18N steering committee. The founding members of the workgroup were IBM, Sun and OpenOffice.org.

Thanks to the following people for their contributions to the CLDR 1.0 and LDML 1.0: Helena Shih Chapman, Mark Davis, Simon Dean, Deborah Goldsmith, Steven R Loomis, Kentaroh Noji, George Rhoten, Baldev Soor, Michael Twomey, Ram Viswanadha and Vladimir Weinstein. Special thanks to Akio Kido, Hideki Hiura, Tom Garland, and the OpenI18N organization for the sponsorship of this activity, and to the ICU team for hosting the CVS repository and collecting and managing the data for the project.

(Acknowledgements for later versions are in UTS #35: LDML.)