proposed time zone package change to africa file for Cairo

Wed Apr 22 18:11:53 UTC 2009

Hello,

There is no final decision yet (at least that we know of) on what date 
it will begin, so the date we list is tentative. This week we have asked 
several governmental sources in/representing Egypt, and they say it will 
usually start on the last Thursday of April (midnight after/24:00), 
although one person also said sometime in May (could have been with the 
meaning that it will start when May begin).

So a rule like lastThu 24:00s is probably better than lastFri 0:00s. In 
the past few years it has not mattered, but this year there is a 
difference since Thursday is the last day of the month. The current rule 
(lastFri) was probably correct in 1998 though, although we have not been 
able to look into this yet.

However, I think it is unlikely that it will change now tomorrow night 
(Thursday/Friday) - there should have been news about it then. Our end 
date is also tentative though, we hope the government will say something 
about the end date when they announce the start date.

Best regards,
Steffen / timeanddate.com

Sean Coffey wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I think the tzdata may have an conflict with the Egypt rules posted
> at timeanddate.com
>
> At the moment - the start DST rule for Egypt is :
> Rule    Egypt   1995    max     -       Apr     lastFri  0:00s  1:00    S
>
> This would imply the night of thurs night/Fri morning 23/24th April 2009.
> Now - timeanddate has :
>
> Thursday, April 30, 2009 at 11:59:59 PM    No    +2 hours    EET
> Friday, May 1, 2009 at 1:00:00 AM    1 hour    +3 hours    EEST
>
> http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/clockchange.html?n=53
>
> May I ask which one is correct ? One of our customers has said they have
> local knowledge that the timeanddate.com version is the correct one.
>
> Thanks,
> Sean.
>
>
> Sean Coffey wrote:
>> Hi Arthur,
>>
>> the timeanddate link given in the update below is incorrect I believe.
>> It points to "Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico"
>> http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/clockchange.html?n=3D53
>>
>> Is : http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/clockchange.html?n=53
>> the line you meant ?
>>
>> regards,
>> Sean.
>>
>> Arthur David Olson wrote:
>>> Below is a proposed change (thanks to Petr Machata) for the end of 
>>> DST in
>>> Egypt in 2009 and forward. If not problems are found, this change 
>>> should
>>> show up in the ftpable version a week from today.
>>>
>>>                 --ado
>>>
>>> ------- africa -------
>>> *** /tmp/geta10010    Mon Apr 20 16:34:24 2009
>>> --- /tmp/getb10010    Mon Apr 20 16:34:24 2009
>>> ***************
>>> *** 1,4 ****
>>> ! # @(#)africa    8.18
>>>   # <pre>
>>>     # This data is by no means authoritative; if you think you know 
>>> better,
>>> --- 1,4 ----
>>> ! # @(#)africa    8.19
>>>   # <pre>
>>>     # This data is by no means authoritative; if you think you know 
>>> better,
>>> ***************
>>> *** 236,243 ****
>>>   # unless discontinued, next DST may end Thursday 28 August 2008.
>>>   # From Paul Eggert (2007-08-17):
>>>   # For lack of better info, assume the new rule is last Thursday in 
>>> August.
>>> - Rule    Egypt    2008    max    -    Aug    lastThu    23:00s    
>>> 0    -
>>>     # Zone    NAME        GMTOFF    RULES    FORMAT    [UNTIL]
>>>   Zone    Africa/Cairo    2:05:00 -    LMT    1900 Oct
>>>               2:00    Egypt    EE%sT
>>> --- 236,282 ----
>>>   # unless discontinued, next DST may end Thursday 28 August 2008.
>>>   # From Paul Eggert (2007-08-17):
>>>   # For lack of better info, assume the new rule is last Thursday in 
>>> August.
>>>   + # From Petr Machata (2009-04-06):
>>> + # The following appeared in Red Hat bugzilla[1] (edited):
>>> + #
>>> + # > $ zdump -v /usr/share/zoneinfo/Africa/Cairo | grep 2009
>>> + # > /usr/share/zoneinfo/Africa/Cairo  Thu Apr 23 21:59:59 2009 UTC 
>>> =3D Thu =
>>> + # Apr 23
>>> + # > 23:59:59 2009 EET isdst=3D0 gmtoff=3D7200
>>> + # > /usr/share/zoneinfo/Africa/Cairo  Thu Apr 23 22:00:00 2009 UTC 
>>> =3D Fri =
>>> + # Apr 24
>>> + # > 01:00:00 2009 EEST isdst=3D1 gmtoff=3D10800
>>> + # > /usr/share/zoneinfo/Africa/Cairo  Thu Aug 27 20:59:59 2009 UTC 
>>> =3D Thu =
>>> + # Aug 27
>>> + # > 23:59:59 2009 EEST isdst=3D1 gmtoff=3D10800
>>> + # > /usr/share/zoneinfo/Africa/Cairo  Thu Aug 27 21:00:00 2009 UTC 
>>> =3D Thu =
>>> + # Aug 27
>>> + # > 23:00:00 2009 EET isdst=3D0 gmtoff=3D7200
>>> + #
>>> + # > end date should be Thu Sep 24 2009 (Last Thursday in September 
>>> at 23:59=
>>> + # :59)
>>> + # > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/958729/
>>> + #
>>> + # timeanddate[2] and another site I've found[3] also support that.
>>> + #
>>> + # [1] <a href="https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=3D492263">
>>> + # https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=3D492263
>>> + # </a>
>>> + # [2] <a 
>>> href="http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/clockchange.html?n=3D53">
>>> + # http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/clockchange.html?n=3D53
>>> + # </a>
>>> + # [3] <a 
>>> href="http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/time-zone/africa/egypt/">
>>> + # http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/time-zone/africa/egypt/
>>> + # </a>
>>> + + # From Arthur David Olson (2009-04-20):
>>> + # In 2009 (and for the next several years), Ramadan ends before 
>>> the fourth
>>> + # Thursday in September; Egypt is expected to revert to the last 
>>> Thursday
>>> + # in September.
>>> + Rule    Egypt    2008    only    -    Aug    lastThu    23:00s    
>>> 0    -
>>> + Rule    Egypt    2009    max    -    Sep    lastThu    23:00s    
>>> 0    -
>>> +   # Zone    NAME        GMTOFF    RULES    FORMAT    [UNTIL]
>>>   Zone    Africa/Cairo    2:05:00 -    LMT    1900 Oct
>>>               2:00    Egypt    EE%sT
>>>
>>>   
>>