[tz] Proposal for a modern 'Collapsed' Namespace
Guy Harris
guy at alum.mit.edu
Fri Oct 12 02:09:28 UTC 2012
On Oct 11, 2012, at 6:59 PM, Walter <walter.stanish at gmail.com> wrote:
> Please find attached my proposal
...which has a suffix of .tab and a media type of application/octet-stream, neither of which make it very readable by many mail user agents.
It's actually just plain text (with an unnecessary <pre> before it), so here it is:
# This file is in the public domain.
# Author: Walter Stanish <walter at stani.sh> (2012-10-12)
#
# This file collapses multiple time zones in to a reduced
# number of modern "time zones" (in the natural language
# semantic sense) within the 'Collapsed/*' namespace for
# user modern interface display purposes.
#
# The sole focus here is on achieving a pragmatic solution
# for end users in normal modern use cases, in a manner
# that is compatible with the existing format and
# maintenance of the time zone database. Any and all
# other considerations are implicitly dismissed.
#
# Users MAY be presented with items from the collapsed
# list as the primary means of timezone selection or
# display, though given the option to select from the
# complete database (including the component entries)
# belonging to should they wish.
#
# ------------------------------------------------------
# NOTE: THE 'Collapsed/*' NAMESPACE PURPOSEFULLY DOES
# NOT CONSIDER HISTORIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
# COMPONENT TIME ZONES AND AS SUCH IS NOT
# RECOMMENDED FOR SYSTEMS INTENDING TO CALCULATE
# 20TH CENTURY HISTORIC DATES AND TIMES IN A
# TIMEZONE DEPENDENT FASHION.
# ------------------------------------------------------
#
# Rationale:
# - Users often need to select the name of a timezone,
# for example when installing an operating system or
# working with global event data.
# - To date (2012), the time zone database has supplied
# only (A) a list of 'Region/Name' style identifiers
# that are not appropriate for user presentation for
# various reasons; and (B) zone.tab, a list of
# single geographical coordinate pairs for the each
# of the above, with concise descriptions.
# - Even if the zone.tab file may assit autoselection
# an appropriate user timezone in some cases, it
# still does not solve the display problem for the
# resulting timezone, once it has been selected.
# - None of the above provide user interface oriented
# human language descriptions of modern "timezones"
# with which the user may be familiar.
# - For example, the "Beijing time" that is considered
# standard in mainland China is presently split in to
# no less than five regions that, whilst historically
# unique, in any modern use case remain completely
# irrelevant. Furthermore, the most common use
# case for non-standard time within China (the
# informal "Xijiang time"; actively used and
# referred to as 'Wulumuqi time' by Chinese press
# and government) is not adequately presented AT ALL
# as an alternative to standard Beijing time in
# the current database (though it is discussed under
# both the 'Asia/Kashgar' and 'Asia/Urumqi' entries).
# - China represents some huge percentage of today's
# internet and the time zone database has failed
# to provide an appropriate solution for those users.
# - There are sure to be other regions of the world
# with similar time zone nomenclature and/or
# legacy data situations to that of China.
# - There is no reasonable basis for translation of
# time zone descriptions at this time (zone.tab is
# certainly inadequate).
#
# Format:
#
# Collapsed <CollapsedZoneName> <TargetZone>
# Define a new zone within the modern 'Collapsed/*' namespace.
# The <CollapsedZoneName> may be referenced as
# 'Collapsed/<CollapsedZoneName>' and will assume the properties
# of the pre-existing time zone <TargetZone>.
#
# CollapsedName <CollapsedZoneName> <language> "<Title>"
# Define the title of a collapsed zone within the modern,
# 'Collapsed/*' namespace for a given IANA language tag.
#
# Collapse <SourceZone> <CollapsedZoneName>
# Provide a 1:1 mapping from a traditional time zone through to
# the modern 'Collapsed/*' namespace.
#
# CanCollapse <SourceZone> <CollapsedZoneName> [<Priority>]
# Provide a potential option within a 1:n mapping from a
# traditional time zone through to the modern 'Collapsed/*'
# namespace. Optionally, specify a <Priority> ranging from
# 0-255 that should be used to order the options presented
# to a user in order of most to least likely mapping.
# Higher priorities mean a greater likelihood that an option
# is the correct assumption.
# Collapsed/BeijingTime - Beijing Time (all of mainland China)
Collapsed BeijingTime Asia/Shanghai
CollapsedName BeijingTime en "Beijing time"
CollapsedName BeijingTime zh-hans "北京时间"
CollapsedName BeijingTime zh-hant "北京時間"
CollapsedDesc BeijingTime en "As used officially across mainland China."
CollapsedDesc BeijingTime zh-hans "全国正式使用时区"
CollapsedDesc BeijingTime zh-hant "全國正式使用時區"
Collapse Asia/Harbin BeijingTime
Collapse Asia/Shanghai BeijingTime
Collapse Asia/Chongqing BeijingTime
CanCollapse Asia/Kashgar BeijingTime 100
CanCollapse Asia/Urumqi BeijingTime 100
# Collapsed/XinjiangTime - Xinjiang Time (aka 'Wulumuqi time')
Collapsed XinjiangTime UTC+06:00
CollapsedName XinjiangTime en "Xinjiang time"
CollapsedName XinjiangTime zh-hans "新疆时间"
CollapsedName XinjiangTime zh-hant "新疆時間"
CollapsedDesc XinjiangTime en "As used unofficially throughout Xinjiang."
CollapsedDesc XinjiangTime zh-hans "新疆非正式使用时区"
CollapsedDesc XinjiangTime zh-hant "新疆非正式使用時區"
CanCollapse Asia/Kashgar XinjiangTime 50
CanCollapse Asia/Urumqi XinjiangTime 50
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