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<blockquote><b>Paul Eggert</b> <a
href="mailto:tz%40iana.org?Subject=Re:%20Re%3A%20%5Btz%5D%20%5BPATCH%202/3%5D%20Replace%20some%20zones%20with%20links%20when%20that%0A%20doesn%27t%20lose%20non-LMT%20info.&In-Reply-To=%3C522616ED.6060902%40cs.ucla.edu%3E"
title="[tz] [PATCH 2/3] Replace some zones with links when that
doesn't lose non-LMT info.">eggert at cs.ucla.edu </a><br>
<i>Tue Sep 3 17:05:49 UTC 2013</i><br>
<br>
Lester Caine wrote:
><i> can we at least agree that the quality of the material is
heading in the right direction?
</i>
Yes, that's the idea.<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
While I personally have no problem with tidy-up of obviously wrong
data and also agree that correction of mistakes is more important
than stability (which has never been absolutely pretended), I think
end-users of tzdb should get a better opportunity to estimate how
reliable the data are and how much trust they can put in their time
zone calculations.<br>
<br>
Offsets in LMT-lines can easily be qualified as UNKNOWN. For the
proposed date of 1970 as general separation point between UNSAFE and
(apparently) RELIABLE I am not so sure. Would it not be helpful for
end-users if there is an additional year-type attribute per zone
which tells the users since when the data can be confirmed with high
probability of correctness? Would require about 400+ attributes (ok,
1970 as default). I am sure for example in UK or in Germany the data
are correct even a pretty while before 1970. Flexibility would be a
good thing, isn't it? External APIs could support the users with
this extra quality information per offset and make them better aware
that historical tz data are not set in stone.<br>
<br>
Just giving a thought...<br>
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