Question on abbreviations

[Ken Pizzini]

On Wed, Sep 27, 2006 at 03:26:59PM -0700, Mark Davis wrote:
> As to UNTIL, it isn't just a confusion. The documentation says:
> 
>     Input lines are made up of fields.  Fields are separated
>     from one another by any number of white space characters.
>     Leading and trailing white space on input lines is ignored.
> 
> Thus saying that UNTIL is a single field with interior spaces contradicts
> this (and is also clumsier to parse and harder to explain).

It is still a matter of interpretation, ripe for confusion.
The "classic" interpretation has been: *the* fields (e.g.,
the five or six in (Zone,NAME,GMTOFF,RULES/SAVE,FORMAT,[UNTIL]))
are whitspace separated.  The UNTIL field is *one* field, even
if it does have spaces.  The "wrong" interpretation you mention
is a very reasonable reading, but not the one that was meant.


>  Could the explanation of
> transitions and the default for LETTER/S before the first year be added to
> zic.8.txt?

I'll take a stab at making zic.8 less ambiguous, if someone else
doesn't beat me to it.

		--Ken Pizzini