[tz] Reason for removal of several TZ

[Tom Lane]

Michael Douglass <mikeadouglass at gmail.com> writes:
> I'd suggest a first step would be to provide a unique - reasonably short 
> - opaque id for each definition. That allows us to build out a 
> localization framework around it.

This strikes me as a remarkably bad idea.  Reality is that the existing
tzdb zone names are a de facto part of the universe now.  Whether you
think that they ought to be used in UIs or not, *they are so used*, and
you aren't going to get anywhere by telling people not to.

I can positively guarantee that if those names are replaced by meaningless
IDs, the very first thing that the Postgres project will do is build a
mapping table between those IDs and the old names, and continue to expose
the old names in our UI.  I confidently predict that a majority of other
consumers of the tz database will do likewise.

			regards, tom lane