[tz] Proposal: validation text file with releases

[Jon Skeet]

On 15 July 2015 at 20:23, <Paul_Koning at dell.com> wrote:

> On Jul 15, 2015, at 3:10 PM, Jon Skeet <skeet at pobox.com> wrote:
>
>  If the tzdata isn't really intended to be consumed - if we should
> *really* only consume the zic output, and anything else is somewhat
> questionable, then why distribute the tzdata at all? Why not just
> distribute the zic output files?
>
>
>  For the same reason that people distribute source files and not compiled
> binaries.
>

Where distribution of program binaries is feasible, it tends to make life
simpler for those consuming it. In my experience, most end users of
software *don't* build it from scratch these days, even on platforms where
that used to be the norm such as Linux. While source code tends to compile
to different binaries on different platforms, there's no reason for the zic
output not to be made entirely portable (if indeed it isn't already) such
that the binaries *can* just be distributed, with the source of the data
also available straight from a git repository (or as a separate but
less-widely-used) download.

Aside from reacting to that first sentence, any thoughts on the rest? I
perhaps shouldn't have included that aspect at all in my previous mail, if
it will detract from making more positive progress :(

Jon
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