[tz] Fiji DST Oct 26

[Ken Rylander]

Hi Paul,

Agree completely. And believe me, no-one would be happier than me, if 
they decide to go with DST after all. Because that would mean that I 
don't have to patch around 100 servers (OS, like Windows, Solaris, Linux 
+ all Java Homes), and roll back the DST patch for last year. And all to 
be done within 10 days.

The corporation I represent keep lobbying to get the information through 
to the decision makers, and also trying to get other companies, like 
Fiji Airways (because, as Tim     pointed out, airlines would have a 
special interest in this) to do the same. But no luck yet.

The latest information we received said that the government would always 
give 2 months notice before DST. I am not sure they have, since DST was 
re-introduced in 2009. But leaving that aside, their reasoning would be 
that status quo, means no DST.

So even though the TZDB prediction was completely logical when put in 
place last year, as it stands now, a best guess for an outside observer 
(as myself), would be that there will be no DST this year. Or possibly, 
that there will be DST, but that it will start later in the year.

Cheers,
/Ken

On 15/10/2014 12:43 PM, Paul_Koning at Dell.com wrote:
> I wouldn’t call no DST, when DST has been in place for a number of years, “status quo”.  It might be what the people making the decision thought of as the default answer, but if so it doesn’t appear they ever communicated that point of view.  Otherwise the TZ rules would have reflected it.  As it is, the database reflects the best guess of outside observers.
>
> No one is forcing anything, but the authorities may want to consider the fact that global databases can’t be updated overnight.  So while it would be convenient to be able to make a decision one day ahead of time, it isn’t actually practical to do so.  If you want the rest of the world to be able to deal with the rules, they need to be communicated with some lead time.  I don’t know what the TZ maintainers think is a reasonable minimum; given additional processing in OS patch procedures etc., it really is desirable to get these decisions finalized at least a couple of months ahead of time.
>
> As I’ve pointed out, some of us build systems where the lead times are closer to a year.
>
> 	paul
>
> On Oct 14, 2014, at 6:41 PM, Ken Rylander <ken at lajbans.com.au> wrote:
>
>> Hi Brian,
>>
>> We have asked the Ministry multiple times, but no decision has been made.
>>
>> I guess they see it as if the TZDB is "forcing" them to have DST this year. The Fiji Government have had DST the last couple of years, but never said it was permanent. The decision was always made each year. Never predicting anything about the future. So to them, not making any decision about DST in 2014, would mean status quo, i.e. no DST 2014.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> /Ken
>>
>> On 14/10/2014 9:12 PM, Brian Inglis wrote:
>>> On 2014-10-14 02:04, Ken Rylander wrote:
>>>> There might be an issue with the Fiji DST (Pacific/Fiji), predicted to happen on Oct 26, at 3am. It looks like the Fiji government haven't yet decided on whether to have DST this year, or not. And in that case, on what date it will start. There was recently elections here, and it seems like the Fiji government haven't prioritised any decisions around DST.
>>>> Taking this into consideration, and also the fact that this future, predicted date was introduced by the TZDB, would it be possible to get a tzdata version, where the DST for 2014 is removed?
>>> How about asking your Ministry of Information to make an announcement
>>> about whether or not Fiji will start DST on Oct 26 at 03.00, as the
>>> rest of the world expects it to?
>>> If not, times on some airline tickets may need adjusted, and all
>>> computers updated, as soon as changes can be released by tz and IATA.
>>> You government website provides many contact options for the Ministry.