[tz] re : Time zones in Ukraine

Lester Caine lester at lsces.co.uk
Thu Apr 17 19:52:58 UTC 2014


On 17/04/14 18:04, random832 at fastmail.us wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 17, 2014, at 9:20, Ian Abbott wrote:
>> >Unix systems store the timestamp in universal time, so the local
>> >timezone the system was in at the time the file was
>> >created/modified/accessed shouldn't matter (assuming the system time was
>> >set correctly).
> This entire conversation is predicated on the assumption that we want to
> display it in local time. If there is a correct answer, then the
> timezone the file was created in is a better candidate than the timezone
> your current geographic location (where the file may not have been
> created) observed. Rejecting the assumption makes the_entire_  exercise
> irrelevant, not only the part I brought up.

There is much debate in many areas on just what 'history' is important. 
It was back in the 1990's that we started using UTC exclusively for 
storing time data and add location as a means of identifying a local 
time. Processing historic data where tz offset may be suspect is a 
current problem, and the existing tz database can't be relied on to 
provide valid historic material. That is why Paul has set a limit on 
when the tz data is intended to be accurate from. The problem this 
leaves is how to manage material that has both pre and post 'tz valid' 
data. The current assumption is that everybody is using the same tz data 
and I'm not sure what will happen where distributions are not providing 
that with reliability? Two machines could well display different local 
times for the same historic data :(

-- 
Lester Caine - G8HFL
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