Web service time computer

[Markus Kuhn]

Deborah Goldsmith wrote on 2006-02-24 15:13 UTC:
> On Feb 24, 2006, at 1:35 AM, Markus Kuhn wrote:
> >> It might be better to maintain TZDATA in xml and have a translator  
> >> back
> >> to the current format.
> >
> > And the advantage would be what exactly?
> 
> Stability, so that tools that parse the data can deal with change  
> more gracefully. The ICU project has had a difficult time keeping up  
> with changes to the file and tools. We can't use the output files --  
> which *are* stable -- because they do not contain all the data from  
> the input that ICU needs.
> 
> However, I don't care whether the "master" copy is XML or not, just  
> that it is possible to generate XML (or some other stable format)  
> from the "official" version of zic, so that when the timezone file 
> format changes, or zic changes, the stable format doesn't change.

I understand. But also consider that if the timezone file format
changes, there may be a good reason for such a change, i.e. a newly
required functionality. We are at the mercy of creative politicians all
over the world, who continue to think up new and innovative ways for
fiddling with local time. They will be as little restricted by your
desired XML DTD as they are currently restricted by the zic input file
format.

                    "DST shall henceforth start on the first Monday after
                     the first Tuesday after the latest Wednesday before
                     the full moon closest to Easter, exept if the year
                     is divisible by 400, in which case we follow the
                     European Union rules of 1992."

Markus