[tz] Removing systemv, pacificnew, Rule TYPEs, zic -y

[Tim Parenti]

Since we need a new release soon for the changes to Casey, which took
effect about 7 hours ago, I've rebased and applied these patches to the
development repository.  Updated versions attached.

--
Tim Parenti


On Wed, 13 May 2020 at 21:54, Tim Parenti <tim at timtimeonline.com> wrote:

> I noticed recently that the systemv file, which adapted a subset of North
> American zones with limited rulesets to old versions of System V, has had
> all its once-useful bits commented out since 2005p.  Looking back at list
> archives, even discussion at the time argued that the file wasn't really
> needed then.  The attached proposed patch 0001 removes this obsolete file
> and its references.
>
> Of course, I was only looking at systemv in the first place because I'd
> also recalled that we're still distributing the pacificnew file, which has
> caused some confusion every so often and has likewise generally outlived
> its usefulness.  This led me to the related file yearistype.sh, which is
> also unused, except as a default script to pass to the Makefile to process
> the TYPE field of Rule lines.
>
> Given that the TYPE field hasn't been used by tzdata since 2000f and has
> been more formally deprecated since 2015f, the whole unused feature is ripe
> for "spring cleaning".  The attached proposed patch 0002 completely drops
> support for the TYPE field (marking it reserved for compatibility purposes)
> and causes non-trivial use of the field or use of zic's -y option to error
> (instead of warning as it has since 2017c).  It also removes the pacificnew
> and yearistype.sh files that are no longer needed and updates documentation
> accordingly.
>
> I don't presently foresee any need to repurpose the nullified field down
> the road, but this is the next step in allowing us to "reclaim" it in the
> event that such a need should arise in the future.
>
> --
> Tim Parenti
>
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