[tz] Ambiguous abbreviations for Australian timezones when daylight savings is in affect

[Russ Allbery]

Tobias Conradi <tobias.conradi at gmail.com> writes:

>> we could well end up getting the same argument again,

> By that reasoning you could oppose any change.

Indeed, which is exactly the point.  Standards are the most useful when
they don't change.

I don't particularly care if these abbreviations change, but it's the same
problem as with the naming of Chinese time zone names: there is a cost to
change.  Despite it being a horrible idea, I'm sure some software out
there has made assumptions about what abbreviations to expect and will
break if the abbreviations change.  Avoiding unnecessary change in
low-level standard software like the tz database is important; it's hard
to know what assumptions have been layered on top of it, given how
ubiquitous it is.

If the abbreviations do change, I agree with Guy: this should be the last
time they ever change short of national legislation clearly and
unambiguously establishing different abbreviations.

-- 
Russ Allbery (rra at stanford.edu)             <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>