[tz] Dropping iso3166.tab

[Kevin Lyda]

On Tue, May 21, 2013 at 2:39 AM, David Patte ₯ <dpatte at relativedata.com> wrote:
> So therefore, I would think that where possible its just simpler to follow
> recognize international standards (such as the UN) when improving the
> database.

I generally agreed right up until there. tzinfo tries to reflect what
people on the ground think. And I think country codes should reflect
that.

Say that Floofy (fl) and Fnord (fn) claim ownership of the large city
of Fubar. I don't see anything wrong with putting Fubar in fl and fn.
This way people in Floofy and Fnord see the city they expect to be
there. And at the end of the day that's what tzinfo is for.

In all the examples on the list there exist a large number of people
who live in those places that operate under the belief that tzinfo
reflects. They sign contracts, do banking, make appointments and
generally live their lives in those timezones - even if they
politically disagree with that belief.

Reflecting reality is not the same as reflecting bureaucracy.
Reflecting reality is not the same as endorsing reality. Trying to
twist the tzinfo db into a tool to change reality seems like an
incredibly bad idea. It should reflect what's on the ground right now,
not what we might want reality to be.

Kevin

--
Kevin Lyda
Galway, Ireland
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