[tz] [PATCH] Adjust commentary to try to defuse recent issues somewhat.

Tim Parenti tim at timtimeonline.com
Thu May 30 15:30:21 UTC 2013


Not a major issue, but using more precise coordinates for Asia/Jerusalem
would also mean using a correspondingly more precise LMT value pre-1880.

diff --git a/asia b/asia
index e544fcc..437e15f 100644
--- a/asia
+++ b/asia
@@ -1244,7 +1244,7 @@ Rule    Zion    2028    max    -    Oct    Sun>=2
2:00    0    S
 #Rule    Zion    2082    max    -    Oct    Sun>=2    2:00    0    S

 # Zone    NAME        GMTOFF    RULES    FORMAT    [UNTIL]
-Zone    Asia/Jerusalem    2:20:56 -    LMT    1880
+Zone    Asia/Jerusalem    2:20:54 -    LMT    1880
             2:20:40    -    JMT    1918    # Jerusalem Mean Time?
             2:00    Zion    I%sT



--
Tim Parenti


On 27 May 2013 21:18, Paul Eggert <eggert at cs.ucla.edu> wrote:

> This change stemmed from a long discussion on the tz mailing list
> about what country the Jerusalem zone entry is in.  The idea of
> this change is to deemphasize the role of countries in the tz
> database, to lessen the amount of controversy in the future.
> Due to backward compatibility concerns this change does not eliminate
> the role of countries entirely.  With one minor exception this
> change does not alter any code or data, just comments.
> * Theory, zone.tab: Deemphasize the role of countries in choosing
> location names, as they tend to introduce political conflict
> during maintenance, and country information isn't needed for
> typical uses of the database.
> * Theory: Say that names should differ in more than just case, and why;
> and explain why 'backward' means old names will continue to work.
> (thanks to Norbert Lindenberg for spotting these issues).
> Update citation date and URL.
> * iso3166.tab: Mention latest maintenance update.
> Update citation URL.  Add missing comma for BQ.
> Be more consistent about abbreviating Sint like Saint.
> Mention SX "Dutch part" for consistency with MF "French part".
> * iso3166.tab, zone.tab: Add legal/territorial disclaimer.
> * zone.tab: Say that country/zone overlaps can occur in both
> directions, and that column 2 need not lie within column 1.
> (Asia/Jerusalem): Change the coordinates from a sloppy value,
> taken from an old astrology book, to a more-precise value, the
> site of city hall.  The sloppy value sparked some controversy and
> the hope is that the more-precise value will be a bit less
> controversial.
> ---
>  Theory      | 27 ++++++++++++++-------------
>  iso3166.tab | 21 ++++++++++-----------
>  zone.tab    | 17 ++++++++++++-----
>  3 files changed, 36 insertions(+), 29 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/Theory b/Theory
> index b00a492..751b12d 100644
> --- a/Theory
> +++ b/Theory
> @@ -264,12 +264,12 @@ in decreasing order of importance:
>                 TZ strings.  A file name component must not exceed 14
>                 characters or start with `-'.  E.g., prefer `Brunei'
>                 to `Bandar_Seri_Begawan'.
> -       Include at least one location per time zone rule set per country.
> -               One such location is enough.  Use ISO 3166 (see the file
> -               iso3166.tab) to help decide whether something is a country.
> -               However, uninhabited ISO 3166 regions like Bouvet Island
> +       Do not use names that differ only in case.  Although the reference
> +               implementation is case-sensitive, some other
> implementations
> +               are not, and they would mishandle names differing only in
> case.
> +       Uninhabited regions like the North Pole and Bouvet Island
>                 do not need locations, since local time is not defined
> there.
> -       If all the clocks in a country's region have agreed since 1970,
> +       If all the clocks in a region have agreed since 1970,
>                 don't bother to include more than one location
>                 even if subregions' clocks disagreed before 1970.
>                 Otherwise these tables would become annoyingly large.
> @@ -283,7 +283,7 @@ in decreasing order of importance:
>         Use mainstream English spelling, e.g. prefer `Rome' to `Roma', and
>                 prefer `Athens' to the true name (which uses Greek
> letters).
>                 The POSIX file name restrictions encourage this rule.
> -       Use the most populous among locations in a country's time zone,
> +       Use the most populous among locations in a zone,
>                 e.g. prefer `Shanghai' to `Beijing'.  Among locations with
>                 similar populations, pick the best-known location,
>                 e.g. prefer `Rome' to `Milan'.
> @@ -302,10 +302,11 @@ in decreasing order of importance:
>                 Milan's population has grown to be somewhat greater
>                 than Rome's.
>         If a name is changed, put its old spelling in the `backward' file.
> +               This means old spellings will continue to work.
>
>  The file `zone.tab' lists the geographical locations used to name
>  time zone rule files.  It is intended to be an exhaustive list
> -of canonical names for geographic regions.
> +of names for geographic regions as described above.
>
>  Older versions of this package used a different naming scheme,
>  and these older names are still supported.
> @@ -359,14 +360,13 @@ in decreasing order of importance:
>                 If this is not available or is a phrase mentioning the
> country
>                 (e.g. ``Cape Verde Time''), then:
>
> -               When a country has a single or principal time zone region,
> +               When a country is identified with a single or principal
> zone,
>                         append `T' to the country's ISO code, e.g. `CVT'
> for
>                         Cape Verde Time.  For summer time append `ST';
>                         for double summer time append `DST'; etc.
> -               When a country has multiple time zones, take the first
> three
> -                       letters of an English place name identifying each
> zone
> -                       and then append `T', `ST', etc. as before;
> -                       e.g. `VLAST' for VLAdivostok Summer Time.
> +               Otherwise, take the first three letters of an English place
> +                       name identifying each zone and append 'T', 'ST',
> etc.
> +                       as before; e.g. 'VLAST' for VLAdivostok Summer
> Time.
>
>         Use UTC (with time zone abbreviation "zzz") for locations while
>                 uninhabited.  The "zzz" mnemonic is that these locations
> are,
> @@ -587,7 +587,8 @@ Sources:
>
>  Michael Allison and Robert Schmunk,
>  "Technical Notes on Mars Solar Time as Adopted by the Mars24 Sunclock"
> -<http://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/mars24/help/notes.html> (2004-07-30).
> +<http://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/mars24/help/notes.html> (2012-08-08).
>
>  Jia-Rui Chong, "Workdays Fit for a Martian", Los Angeles Times
> +<http://articles.latimes.com/2004/jan/14/science/sci-marstime14>
>  (2004-01-14), pp A1, A20-A21.
> diff --git a/iso3166.tab b/iso3166.tab
> index b952ca1..c184a81 100644
> --- a/iso3166.tab
> +++ b/iso3166.tab
> @@ -1,16 +1,14 @@
> -# <pre>
> +# ISO 3166 alpha-2 country codes
> +#
>  # This file is in the public domain, so clarified as of
>  # 2009-05-17 by Arthur David Olson.
> -# ISO 3166 alpha-2 country codes
>  #
> -# From Paul Eggert (2006-09-27):
> +# From Paul Eggert (2013-05-27):
>  #
>  # This file contains a table with the following columns:
>  # 1.  ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code, current as of
> -#     ISO 3166-1 Newsletter VI-1 (2007-09-21).  See:
> -#     <a href="
> http://www.iso.org/iso/en/prods-services/iso3166ma/index.html">
> -#     ISO 3166 Maintenance agency (ISO 3166/MA)
> -#     </a>.
> +#     ISO 3166-1 Newsletter VI-15 (2013-05-10).  See: Updates on ISO 3166
> +#
> http://www.iso.org/iso/home/standards/country_codes/updates_on_iso_3166.htm
>  # 2.  The usual English name for the country,
>  #     chosen so that alphabetic sorting of subsets produces helpful lists.
>  #     This is not the same as the English name in the ISO 3166 tables.
> @@ -20,8 +18,9 @@
>  #
>  # Lines beginning with `#' are comments.
>  #
> -# From Arthur David Olson (2011-08-17):
> -# Resynchronized today with the ISO 3166 site (adding SS for South Sudan).
> +# This table is intended as an aid for users, to help them select time
> +# zone data appropriate for their practical needs.  It is not intended
> +# to take or endorse any position on legal or territorial claims.
>  #
>  #country-
>  #code  country name
> @@ -54,7 +53,7 @@ BL    St Barthelemy
>  BM     Bermuda
>  BN     Brunei
>  BO     Bolivia
> -BQ     Bonaire Sint Eustatius & Saba
> +BQ     Bonaire, St Eustatius & Saba
>  BR     Brazil
>  BS     Bahamas
>  BT     Bhutan
> @@ -235,7 +234,7 @@ SR  Suriname
>  SS     South Sudan
>  ST     Sao Tome & Principe
>  SV     El Salvador
> -SX     Sint Maarten
> +SX     St Maarten (Dutch part)
>  SY     Syria
>  SZ     Swaziland
>  TC     Turks & Caicos Is
> diff --git a/zone.tab b/zone.tab
> index 6b98520..3ec24a7 100644
> --- a/zone.tab
> +++ b/zone.tab
> @@ -1,18 +1,21 @@
> -# <pre>
> +# TZ zone descriptions
> +#
>  # This file is in the public domain, so clarified as of
>  # 2009-05-17 by Arthur David Olson.
>  #
> -# TZ zone descriptions
> -#
> -# From Paul Eggert (1996-08-05):
> +# From Paul Eggert (2013-05-27):
>  #
>  # This file contains a table with the following columns:
>  # 1.  ISO 3166 2-character country code.  See the file `iso3166.tab'.
> +#     This identifies a country that overlaps the zone.  The country may
> +#     overlap other zones and the zone may overlap other countries.
>  # 2.  Latitude and longitude of the zone's principal location
>  #     in ISO 6709 sign-degrees-minutes-seconds format,
>  #     either +-DDMM+-DDDMM or +-DDMMSS+-DDDMMSS,
>  #     first latitude (+ is north), then longitude (+ is east).
> +#     This location need not lie within the column-1 country.
>  # 3.  Zone name used in value of TZ environment variable.
> +#     Please see the 'Theory' file for how zone names are chosen.
>  # 4.  Comments; present if and only if the country has multiple rows.
>  #
>  # Columns are separated by a single tab.
> @@ -22,6 +25,10 @@
>  #
>  # Lines beginning with `#' are comments.
>  #
> +# This table is intended as an aid for users, to help them select time
> +# zone data appropriate for their practical needs.  It is not intended
> +# to take or endorse any position on legal or territorial claims.
> +#
>  #country-
>  #code  coordinates     TZ                      comments
>  AD     +4230+00131     Europe/Andorra
> @@ -216,7 +223,7 @@ ID  -0002+10920     Asia/Pontianak  west & central
> Borneo
>  ID     -0507+11924     Asia/Makassar   east & south Borneo, Sulawesi
> (Celebes), Bali, Nusa Tengarra, west Timor
>  ID     -0232+14042     Asia/Jayapura   west New Guinea (Irian Jaya) &
> Malukus (Moluccas)
>  IE     +5320-00615     Europe/Dublin
> -IL     +3146+03514     Asia/Jerusalem
> +IL     +314650+0351326 Asia/Jerusalem
>  IM     +5409-00428     Europe/Isle_of_Man
>  IN     +2232+08822     Asia/Kolkata
>  IO     -0720+07225     Indian/Chagos
> --
> 1.8.1.2
>
>
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