[tz] Why did you rename Russian zone name abbreviations

[Guy Harris]

On Nov 2, 2016, at 12:02 PM, Alexander Belopolsky <alexander.belopolsky at gmail.com> wrote:

> Thanks for a crash course on CLDR!  Does this mean that a date utility that uses CLDR will not be affected by the tzdb change from VLAT to +10?

I assume we're talking about a date utility conforming to the Single UNIX Specification, so that the default date format is "+%a %b %e %H:%M:%S %Z %Y", thus including a "Timezone name, or no characters if no timezone is determinable."

If so, then it depends on how the code determines the timezone name.  If it interprets %Z as an abbreviation - or a short name in CLDR terminology - then, as the CLDR doesn't currently provide abbreviations for the Vladivostok metazone, %Z will have to come from some source other than the metazone, and it may be that it comes from a source other than the CLDR, and it might be affected by the change.

Here's more information on the Unicode Locale Data Markup Language, as used by the CLDR:

	http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr35/tr35-dates.html#Time_Zone_Format_Terminology

> Is timezone data in en.xml derived mechanically from tzdb or maintained independently?

I don't know, but I suspect it's maintained independently, by the CLDR maintainers.  I think some maintainers are members of the list; if so, hopefully they'll respond.