uname -a
OSF1 pikachu.****.com V5.1 2650 alpha
(HP alpha box running Tru64 V5.1B)

Python-2.4a1

make test:
test test_format produced unexpected output:
******************************************
****************************
*** line 2 of actual output doesn't appear in expected 
output after line 1:
+ u'%f' % (1.0,) == u'1,000000' != '1.000000'
******************************************
****************************
no fancy configure options
no locale env variables set

Logged In: YES 
user_id=129426

I can confirm this. It is caused by test__locale that is
executed before test_format (and also, test_unicode fails
likewise). See:

Not only test_format but also test_unicode fail on my
Mandrake 10 box.
My default locale is nl_NL. Behold:

[irmen@atlantis Python-2.4a1]$ cat testcases.in
test__locale
test_format
test_unicode

[irmen@atlantis Python-2.4a1]$ ./python Lib/test/regrtest.py
-f testcases.in
test__locale
test_format
test test_format produced unexpected output:
**********************************************************************
*** line 2 of actual output doesn't appear in expected
output after line 1:
+ u'%f' % (1.0,) == u'1,000000' != '1.000000'
**********************************************************************
test_unicode
test test_unicode failed -- Traceback (most recent call last):
  File
"/home/irmen/BUILD/Python-2.4a1/Lib/test/test_unicode.py",
line 358, in test_formatt             ing
   
string_tests.MixinStrUnicodeUserStringTest.test_formatting(self)
  File
"/home/irmen/BUILD/Python-2.4a1/Lib/test/string_tests.py",
line 615, in test_formatt             ing
    self.checkequal('0042.00', '%07.2f', '__mod__', 42)
  File
"/home/irmen/BUILD/Python-2.4a1/Lib/test/string_tests.py",
line 56, in checkequal
    realresult
AssertionError: u'0042.00' != u'0042,00'

1 test OK.
2 tests failed:
    test_format test_unicode
[irmen@atlantis Python-2.4a1]$

Logged In: YES 
user_id=21257

I can confirm it's still failing in current CVS. It looks
like test__locale.py is not restoring the locale when it
it's finished. I've submitted patch #1007539.

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user_id=469548

Fixed in rev 1.5 of test__locale__.