[tz] What is the data product? (was: Fractional seconds in zic input)

[Stephen Colebourne]

On 6 February 2018 at 04:57, Steve Summit <scs at eskimo.com> wrote:
> In the "Fractional seconds in zic input" thread, Howard Hinnant wrote:
>> Ah, I see our disconnect here.  I have no concern about the zic compiler.
>> The zic compiler is not in my workflow.  The *input* to the zic compiler
>> is the *only* thing that concerns me.  I (and several others) have our
>> own "zic compilers" which take this input, process it, and deliver it
>> to our customers.
>
> This strikes me as a very significant statement.  If this is
> already a well-settled issue, pardon me for reraising it, but:
> is it agreed that the zic *input* files are as much of a product
> of this project as are the compiled output files, and the
> reference code that reads and interprets them?

The downstream consumers I have experience of use the zic source files
(europe, america, asia, etc). For those projects, the source files are
the primary form of the tz database.

Stephen