From 537d3fe17dd4f3b146716f1e209f165773a7584d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Julien Cornebise <julien@cornebise.com>
Date: Sun, 10 May 2026 17:33:21 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] Fix podcast episode sort for pre-1970 broadcast dates

Same root cause as #3620: String(value).localeCompare(..., {numeric:true})
treats the "-" of negative ms epochs as a non-numeric character, so
pre-1970 broadcast dates sort lexically. Switch the primary publishedAt
branch and the same-named tiebreaker to numeric subtraction. Other sort
keys remain on localeCompare for natural-sort behaviour.

Verified with a paste-into-console reproducer; see PR description.

Developed with the help of Claude (Anthropic), reviewed and verified by me.
---
 .../tables/podcast/LazyEpisodesTable.vue      | 21 +++++++++++--------
 1 file changed, 12 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/client/components/tables/podcast/LazyEpisodesTable.vue b/client/components/tables/podcast/LazyEpisodesTable.vue
index d23ee3d3..44b9a320 100644
--- a/client/components/tables/podcast/LazyEpisodesTable.vue
+++ b/client/components/tables/podcast/LazyEpisodesTable.vue
@@ -194,14 +194,18 @@ export default {
             bValue = b[this.sortKey]
           }
 
-          // Sort episodes with no pub date as the oldest
+          // publishedAt is a numeric ms epoch (negative for pre-1970 broadcasts).
+          // Compare numerically so the leading "-" of negative epochs doesn't
+          // break Intl.Collator{numeric:true}, which only handles unsigned digit
+          // runs. Missing dates count as oldest.
           if (this.sortKey === 'publishedAt') {
-            if (!aValue) aValue = Number.MAX_VALUE
-            if (!bValue) bValue = Number.MAX_VALUE
+            const av = aValue == null ? Number.NEGATIVE_INFINITY : Number(aValue)
+            const bv = bValue == null ? Number.NEGATIVE_INFINITY : Number(bValue)
+            return av < bv ? -1 : av > bv ? 1 : 0
           }
 
           const primaryCompare = String(aValue).localeCompare(String(bValue), undefined, { numeric: true, sensitivity: 'base' })
-          if (primaryCompare !== 0 || this.sortKey === 'publishedAt') return primaryCompare
+          if (primaryCompare !== 0) return primaryCompare
 
           // When sorting by season, secondary sort is by episode number
           if (this.sortKey === 'season') {
@@ -212,11 +216,10 @@ export default {
             if (secondaryCompare !== 0) return secondaryCompare
           }
 
-          // Final sort by publishedAt
-          let aPubDate = a.publishedAt || Number.MAX_VALUE
-          let bPubDate = b.publishedAt || Number.MAX_VALUE
-
-          return String(aPubDate).localeCompare(String(bPubDate), undefined, { numeric: true, sensitivity: 'base' })
+          // Final tiebreaker: numeric publishedAt
+          const apa = a.publishedAt == null ? Number.NEGATIVE_INFINITY : Number(a.publishedAt)
+          const bpa = b.publishedAt == null ? Number.NEGATIVE_INFINITY : Number(b.publishedAt)
+          return apa < bpa ? -1 : apa > bpa ? 1 : 0
         })
     },
     episodesList() {