[tz] On merging timezones - a radical proposal.

random832 at fastmail.us random832 at fastmail.us
Wed May 22 19:12:30 UTC 2013


On Wed, May 22, 2013, at 14:55, Guy Harris wrote:
> "The rest" would probably include most if not all UN*X systems:
> 
> 	http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/functions/localtime.html
> 
> does not contain the string 2006 anywhere in it, so I view it as making
> an implicit promise that localtime() can convert any value of "seconds
> since the Epoch" to local time

Those go back to 1907, and that's on 32-bit systems.

The thing is, most users won't actually _have_ files whose timestamps
they care about to-the-hour accuracy in displaying their timestamps in
local time. And those who do can pick advanced.

We already don't handle (to make up an arbitrary example) people who
moved from New York to Phoenix in 1992, but spent a month-long vacation
in Florida in 2004. Since you can't define zones in terms of other
zones, we don't even make it easy for them to handle themselves.

-- 
Random832


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