[tz] Unacceptable recent changes [wasRe: [PATCH 2/4] Move obsolescent Americas entries to 'backward'.]

[Alan Barrett]

On Wed, 28 Aug 2013, Zefram wrote:
> There should be some project that tackles pre-1970 timezones 
> systematically.  My preference would be for the tz project 
> itself to do this.  It could be done gradually, by first 
> permitting new zones (for which there's decent data) to be added 
> that differ from existing ones only pre-1970, and eventually 
> by progressively reducing that 1970 threshold to increase the 
> project's formal scope.

I agree.  It seems clear that some people care about pre-1970 
timestamps.  If they care enough to contribute data, than I think 
that the tz project should not turn them away.

Increasing the quality of pre-1970 data may require creating new 
zones, and I think it would be fine if such new zones were handled 
in a way that allows distributors to choose whether or not to 
include them.  For example, there could be different versions 
of zone.tab that do or do not include cities that differ only 
in pre-1970 timestamps, and there could be Makefile options to 
control whether or not such additional zones are installed.

--apb (Alan Barrett)