[tz] Reason for removal of several TZ

Paul.Koning at dell.com Paul.Koning at dell.com
Mon Dec 4 02:13:54 UTC 2017



> On Dec 3, 2017, at 9:04 PM, Thomas M Steenholdt <tmus at tmus.dk> wrote:
> 
> Paul Eggert wrote:
>> Thomas M Steenholdt wrote:
>>> WGT/WGST seems to be a widely accepted abbreviation for the West
>>> Greenland Time zone.
>> 
>> As far as I can see, it's an invented abbreviation propagated from
>> tzdata, and there isn't much independent support for it. I've been
>> trying to omit these inventions, as tzdata should record timekeeping
>> not invent it.
> 
> I totally agree. I just never thought this was something invented or
> unofficial - I've always used these.

It seems to me the notion of "official" doesn't always work.  Sometimes a particular term is established merely by enough usage.  In fact, that's how the English language works.

So perhaps the same thinking should be applied here: it doesn't really matter where TZ names come from.  Even if they were originally just an acronym thought up by PE or ADO, they become "real" if enough people use them as such.

Now if you're dealing with invented names that haven't gotten any significant currency, that's different, then deleting them makes sense.  But if the pushback is "wait a minute, everyone around here has been using that designation for at least a decade" then that makes it real enough to be preserved.  That assumes there isn't contrary input from an actual "official" source, of course.

	paul


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