[tz] proposed changes for Win32 and a improved mktime() algorithm

[Paul Eggert]

On 05/24/2017 08:14 AM, Kees Dekker wrote:
> I agree with you regarding slashes, because (most) Windows API 
> functions allow to use
> UNIX-style slashes. But support for drive letters is a must have on Windows, as the root
> (in UNIX terms) of a process is relative to a drive. If a process was started from drive D:,
> Then '/' points to D:, but if the zonefiles exist on drive C:, they can't be opened.

I don't see why they can't be opened. If the value of the TZDIR macro is 
"C:/zoneinfo", then calling tzalloc("America/Los_Angeles") opens the 
file "C:/zoneinfo/America/Los_Angeles" even when the process's working 
directory is D:/foobar.

Although it's true that tzalloc("C:/zoneinfo/America/Los_Angeles") won't 
access the file in question, we shouldn't need to worry about supporting 
this unusual use case on MS-Windows. Even on POSIX platforms, using 
absolute filenames for time zones is a questionable practice and some 
systems disable it for security reasons.

I think Robert covered the other points of your email. (In particular, 
look for tzalloc, localtime_rz, and mktime_z.)

> Also, that's why we have improved mkime (with the time_succesive() code), as the current approach
> is pretty inefficient.
If this change can be separated out and made portable and reliable in 
the presence of integer overflow and unsigned time_t and so forth, it 
should be OK. As I recall the proposed change is a long way from that, 
though. From my point of view the simplest thing to do would be change 
the code to use GNU mktime, as a build-time option (default off) for 
people who want speed and don't mind the GPL.