[tz] tzdata source compatibility
Christos Zoulas
christos at zoulas.com
Tue Feb 6 14:40:38 UTC 2018
Hi,
Here's my 5 cents to the tzdb compatibility discussion:
- Things need to move forward; half-measures like "functional comments"
end up hurting in the long term and create unpredictable behavior.
- There are other users of the tzdata "source" so compatibility needs to
be maintained for "some time".
- On the other hand, we can't be held hostage forever; people who write
parsers, should be able to maintain the code.
Straw man proposal:
1. Create a version ChangeLog with tzdb; it should be simple:
- a version number (for reference)
- the release date (to guide expiration)
- an explanation to what changed in the format (for parser writers)
2. Maintain two copies of the source; the current one, and the previous
version in a "compat" subdirectory. Expire "compat" a year after the
release of the next version.
I hope this is helpful,
christos
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