Changing short date format in Ubuntu

Question

How do I change the system-wide short date format in Ubuntu? For example, Thunderbird is showing dates in the DD/MM/YY format, and I would like to change it to MM/DD/YY or YYYY-MM-DD.

The best information I can find so far is in this thread:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=193916

Edit: I want to change the system-wide date format, so that all my applications use this new date format.

Answer 1

Well, I don't see how this is a Ubuntu question, since you are wanting to change the date format in Thunderbird. I did find the following article on changing the date format for Thunderbird, but I don't think it allows you to change it to either of the formats you are asking about.

Answer 2

Thunderbird uses the system's date format, and that format depends on the system's locale settings. You have two options:

1. modify the system locale, the instructions are in the forum thread you linked above, or
2. set LC_TIME to a locale that uses the format you want. The article linked by Craig H suggests en_DK.

Answer 3

I've written a mini Howto on this. It's not as easy as I had expected, but shouldn't pose too many problems.

-Chris