[tz] [PROPOSED] Merge timezones that are alike since 1970

[Stephen Colebourne]

On Sun, 30 May 2021 at 03:35, Philip Paeps via tz <tz at iana.org> wrote:
> It's also worth pointing out again to those unfamiliar with the way tzdb
> is usually distributed (e.g in operating systems distributions), that
> Paul's proposed change is largely invisible to most users.  Most tzdb
> downstreams link in backzone.  Data is merely being moved to a different
> place.  It's not actually being removed.

Two incorrect things here.

1) tzdb is used in many, many more places than just operating systems.
There are downstream consumers of the data for all major programming
languages. Java 8 onwards also exposes all the source data
(transitions and future rules) via a full public API. With Joda-Time,
Europe/Oslo will be physically replaced by Europe/Berlin if this
change proceeds. This narrow idea that tzdb exists to serve Linux-type
operating systems is at the heart of the problem here - it's simply
not true.

2) All major Java installations of tzdb (and probably others) do *not*
use the backzone file. And it would be hugely disruptive to try and
get them to do so. Data *is* being removed directly from many
downstream consumers.

Stephen