Html-ize the tz database?

[Clive D.W. Feather]

Oscar van Vlijmen said:
> Consistent data
> ----------------
> One job should be done soon, I would like to suggest.
> That's to improve the consistency of the tz data within its format.
> If the tz data files were extremely consistent, programmers of non-unix
> applications had less manual labor to do, _much_ less, as I experienced
> myself for my Macintosh HyperCard application.

Do we have a formal syntax for the tz data files ? If we did, it would be
trivial to write a tool that ensures that files remain consistent (and
perhaps pretty-printed it as a side effect, allowing humans to check that
it says what they think it says).

> It has been proposed to xml-ize the tz data files.
> This would improve the transportability, but it would degrade the human
> readability.

I don't think that's necessary; plain text is perfectly transportable.

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