[tz] Regression Tests and Revision Controls

Peter Ilieve peter at aldie.co.uk
Wed Aug 13 17:28:24 UTC 2014


On 12 Aug 2014, at 10:45, Lester Caine <lester at lsces.co.uk> wrote:

> We have been trying to get to a point where the historic tz data is
> stable and acceptable to everyone. …

I don’t think that is an achievable goal.

I write that as someone who broke the stability of UK historical data
by finding a lot of the old Summer Time Orders and other regulations,
work continued and pretty much finished by Joseph Myers.

That sort of thing will probably, and should, continue. Some keen
youngster in Elbonia will discover the tz data (maybe her Linux box
doesn’t follow a short-notice summer time change) and will remember
that her grandfather was a senior official in the Elbonian ministry
of the interior, and there is a trunk full of his old stuff in
her parents’ attic. Before we know it we will have decades of
accurate history for Elbonia, traceable to primary sources, but
different from the current tz data. That is a Good Thing, beating
stability any day.


		Peter Ilieve



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