[tz] [PATCH 1/2] Improve use of non-ASCII symbols in commentary

Paul Eggert eggert at cs.ucla.edu
Fri Feb 16 22:04:53 UTC 2018


From: Paul Eggert <eggert at Penguin.CS.UCLA.EDU>

Go back to using °, ±, etc. in commentary.  This was prompted by
my recent minor cleanup change of “34°” to “34 degrees” for
Uruguay commentary.  As it happens, this cleanup wasn't really
needed for XEmacs, and it's annoying to have to use longwinded
workarounds for common symbols.
* Makefile (UNUSUAL_OK_CHARSET): New macro.
(OK_CHAR): Use it.
(check_character_set): Check Makefile seperately, since its
UNUSUAL_OK_CHARSET can be a non-SAFE_LINE now.
* NEWS: Mention this.
---
 Makefile     | 22 +++++++++++++++-------
 NEWS         |  6 +++++-
 asia         | 11 +++++------
 australasia  |  4 ++--
 backzone     |  6 +++---
 europe       | 14 +++++++-------
 northamerica |  5 ++---
 southamerica |  2 +-
 zone1970.tab |  2 +-
 9 files changed, 41 insertions(+), 31 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 47acbbd..fc15c3e 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -408,13 +408,19 @@ SAFE_CHARSET3=	'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~'
 SAFE_CHARSET=	$(SAFE_CHARSET1)$(SAFE_CHARSET2)$(SAFE_CHARSET3)
 SAFE_CHAR=	'[]'$(SAFE_CHARSET)'-]'
 
+# Non-ASCII non-letters that OK_CHAR allows, as these characters are
+# useful in commentary.  XEmacs 21.5.34 displays them correctly,
+# presumably because they are Latin-1.
+UNUSUAL_OK_CHARSET= °±½¾×
+
 # OK_CHAR matches any character allowed in the distributed files.
-# This is the same as SAFE_CHAR, except that multibyte letters are
-# also allowed so that commentary can contain people's names and quote
-# non-English sources.  For non-letters the sources are limited to
-# ASCII renderings for the convenience of maintainers whose text editors
-# mishandle UTF-8 by default (e.g., XEmacs 21.4.22).
-OK_CHAR=	'[][:alpha:]'$(SAFE_CHARSET)'-]'
+# This is the same as SAFE_CHAR, except that UNUSUAL_OK_CHARSET and
+# multibyte letters are also allowed so that commentary can contain a
+# few safe symbols and people's names and can quote non-English sources.
+# Other non-letters are limited to ASCII renderings for the
+# convenience of maintainers using XEmacs 21.5.34, which by default
+# mishandles Unicode characters U+0100 and greater.
+OK_CHAR=	'[][:alpha:]$(UNUSUAL_OK_CHARSET)'$(SAFE_CHARSET)'-]'
 
 # SAFE_LINE matches a line of safe characters.
 # SAFE_SHARP_LINE is similar, except any OK character can follow '#';
@@ -689,8 +695,10 @@ check_character_set: $(ENCHILADA)
 		sharp='#' && \
 		! grep -Env $(SAFE_LINE) $(MANS) date.1 $(MANTXTS) \
 			$(MISC) $(SOURCES) $(WEB_PAGES) \
-			CONTRIBUTING LICENSE Makefile README \
+			CONTRIBUTING LICENSE README \
 			version tzdata.zi && \
+		! grep -Env $(SAFE_LINE)'|^UNUSUAL_OK_CHARSET='$(OK_CHAR)'*$$' \
+			Makefile && \
 		! grep -Env $(SAFE_SHARP_LINE) $(TDATA_TO_CHECK) backzone \
 			leapseconds yearistype.sh zone.tab && \
 		! grep -Env $(OK_LINE) $(ENCHILADA); \
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index b83cce9..1e2cfdf 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -108,6 +108,10 @@ Unreleased, experimental changes
     with links to many relevant legal documents.
     (Thanks to Tim Parenti.)
 
+    Commentary now uses some non-ASCII characters with Unicode value
+    less than U+0100, as they can be useful and should work even with
+    older editors such as XEmacs.
+
 
 Release 2018c - 2018-01-22 23:00:44 -0800
 
@@ -1009,7 +1013,7 @@ Release 2016b - 2016-03-12 17:30:14 -0800
     Comments in zone tables have been improved.  (Thanks to J William Piggott.)
 
     tzselect again limits its menu comments so that menus fit on a
-    24x80 alphanumeric display.
+    24×80 alphanumeric display.
 
     A new web page tz-how-to.html.  (Thanks to Bill Seymour.)
 
diff --git a/asia b/asia
index 63d2fb0..5c2fc50 100644
--- a/asia
+++ b/asia
@@ -1478,8 +1478,7 @@ Rule	Japan	1950	1951	-	May	Sat>=1	24:00	1:00	D
 
 # From Hideyuki Suzuki (1998-11-09):
 # 'Tokyo' usually stands for the former location of Tokyo Astronomical
-# Observatory: 139 degrees 44' 40.90" E (9h 18m 58.727s),
-# 35 degrees 39' 16.0" N.
+# Observatory: 139° 44' 40.90" E (9h 18m 58.727s), 35° 39' 16.0" N.
 # This data is from 'Rika Nenpyou (Chronological Scientific Tables) 1996'
 # edited by National Astronomical Observatory of Japan....
 # JST (Japan Standard Time) has been used since 1888-01-01 00:00 (JST).
@@ -1487,10 +1486,10 @@ Rule	Japan	1950	1951	-	May	Sat>=1	24:00	1:00	D
 
 # From Hideyuki Suzuki (1998-11-16):
 # The ordinance No. 51 (1886) established "standard time" in Japan,
-# which stands for the time on 135 degrees E.
+# which stands for the time on 135° E.
 # In the ordinance No. 167 (1895), "standard time" was renamed to "central
 # standard time".  And the same ordinance also established "western standard
-# time", which stands for the time on 120 degrees E....  But "western standard
+# time", which stands for the time on 120° E....  But "western standard
 # time" was abolished in the ordinance No. 529 (1937).  In the ordinance No.
 # 167, there is no mention regarding for what place western standard time is
 # standard....
@@ -3097,9 +3096,9 @@ Zone	Asia/Tashkent	4:37:11 -	LMT	1924 May  2
 # and is the basis for the information below.
 #
 # The 1906 transition was effective July 1 and standardized Indochina to
-# Phù Liễn Observatory, legally 104 deg. 17'17" east of Paris.
+# Phù Liễn Observatory, legally 104° 17' 17" east of Paris.
 # It's unclear whether this meant legal Paris Mean Time (00:09:21) or
-# the Paris Meridian (2 deg. 20'14.03" E); the former yields 07:06:30.1333...
+# the Paris Meridian (2° 20' 14.03" E); the former yields 07:06:30.1333...
 # and the latter 07:06:29.333... so either way it rounds to 07:06:30,
 # which is used below even though the modern-day Phù Liễn Observatory
 # is closer to 07:06:31.  Abbreviate Phù Liễn Mean Time as PLMT.
diff --git a/australasia b/australasia
index 4f96458..c7c0ea7 100644
--- a/australasia
+++ b/australasia
@@ -1610,7 +1610,7 @@ Zone	Pacific/Wallis	12:15:20 -	LMT	1901
 
 # From Howie Phelps (1999-11-10), who talked to a Pitcairner via shortwave:
 # Betty Christian told me yesterday that their local time is the same as
-# Pacific Standard Time. They used to be 1/2 hour different from us here in
+# Pacific Standard Time. They used to be ½ hour different from us here in
 # Sacramento but it was changed a couple of years ago.
 
 
@@ -1649,7 +1649,7 @@ Zone	Pacific/Wallis	12:15:20 -	LMT	1901
 # 12 hours and 20 minutes ahead of GMT.  When New Zealand adjusted its
 # standard time in 1940s, Tonga had the choice of subtracting from its
 # local time to come on the same standard time as New Zealand or of
-# advancing its time to maintain the differential of 13 degrees
+# advancing its time to maintain the differential of 13°
 # (approximately 50 minutes ahead of New Zealand time).
 #
 # Because His Majesty King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV, then Crown Prince
diff --git a/backzone b/backzone
index cc724aa..2071110 100644
--- a/backzone
+++ b/backzone
@@ -409,7 +409,7 @@ Zone	Asia/Bahrain	3:22:20 -	LMT	1920     # Manamah
 # From Paul Eggert (2014-08-21):
 # In tomorrow's The Hindu, Nitya Menon reports that India had two civil time
 # zones starting in 1884, one in Bombay and one in Calcutta, and that railways
-# used a third time zone based on Madras time (80 deg. 18'30" E).  Also,
+# used a third time zone based on Madras time (80° 18' 30" E).  Also,
 # in 1881 Bombay briefly switched to Madras time, but switched back.  See:
 # http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/madras-375-when-madras-clocked-the-time/article6339393.ece
 #Zone	  Asia/Chennai  [not enough info to complete]
@@ -532,7 +532,7 @@ Zone	Europe/Belfast	-0:23:40 -	LMT	1880 Aug  2
 # Data from Joseph S. Myers
 # https://mm.icann.org/pipermail/tz/2013-September/019883.html
 # References to be added
-# LMT is for Town Church, St. Peter Port, 49 degrees 27'17"N 2 degrees 32'10"W
+# LMT is for Town Church, St. Peter Port, 49° 27' 17" N, 2° 32' 10" W.
 Zone	Europe/Guernsey	-0:10:09 -	LMT	1913 Jun 18
 			 0:00	GB-Eire	%s	1940 Jul  2
 			 1:00	C-Eur	CE%sT	1945 May  8
@@ -566,7 +566,7 @@ Zone Europe/Isle_of_Man	-0:17:55 -	LMT	1883 Mar 30  0:00s
 # Data from Joseph S. Myers
 # https://mm.icann.org/pipermail/tz/2013-September/019883.html
 # References to be added
-# LMT is for Parish Church, St. Helier, 49 degrees 11'0.57"N 2 degrees 6'24.33"W
+# LMT is for Parish Church, St. Helier, 49° 11' 0.57" N, 2° 6' 24.33" W.
 Zone	Europe/Jersey	-0:08:26 -	LMT	1898 Jun 11 16:00u
 			 0:00	GB-Eire	%s	1940 Jul  2
 			 1:00	C-Eur	CE%sT	1945 May  8
diff --git a/europe b/europe
index 8aab26e..6bbb49d 100644
--- a/europe
+++ b/europe
@@ -117,8 +117,8 @@
 # along the towpath within a few yards of it.'
 #
 # I have a one inch to one mile map of London and my estimate of the stone's
-# position is 51 degrees 28' 30" N, 0 degrees 18' 45" W. The longitude should
-# be within about +-2". The Ordnance Survey grid reference is TQ172761.
+# position is 51° 28' 30" N, 0° 18' 45" W. The longitude should
+# be within about ±2". The Ordnance Survey grid reference is TQ172761.
 #
 # [This yields GMTOFF = -0:01:15 for London LMT in the 18th century.]
 
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@
 # after-hours daylight in which to pursue his research.
 # In 1895 he presented a paper to the Wellington Philosophical Society
 # that proposed a two-hour daylight-saving shift.  See:
-# Hudson GV. On seasonal time-adjustment in countries south of lat. 30 deg.
+# Hudson GV. On seasonal time-adjustment in countries south of lat. 30°.
 # Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 1895;28:734
 # http://rsnz.natlib.govt.nz/volume/rsnz_28/rsnz_28_00_006110.html
 # Although some interest was expressed in New Zealand, his proposal
@@ -2594,13 +2594,13 @@ Zone Europe/Kaliningrad	 1:22:00 -	LMT	1893 Apr
 
 # From Vladimir Karpinsky (2014-07-08):
 # LMT in Moscow (before Jul 3, 1916) is 2:30:17, that was defined by Moscow
-# Observatory (coordinates: 55 deg. 45'29.70", 37 deg. 34'05.30")....
+# Observatory (coordinates: 55° 45' 29.70", 37° 34' 05.30")....
 # LMT in Moscow since Jul 3, 1916 is 2:31:01 as a result of new standard.
 # (The info is from the book by Byalokoz ... p. 18.)
 # The time in St. Petersburg as capital of Russia was defined by
 # Pulkov observatory, near St. Petersburg.  In 1916 LMT Moscow
 # was synchronized with LMT St. Petersburg (+30 minutes), (Pulkov observatory
-# coordinates: 59 deg. 46'18.70", 30 deg. 19'40.70") so 30 deg. 19'40.70" >
+# coordinates: 59° 46' 18.70", 30° 19' 40.70") so 30° 19' 40.70" >
 # 2h01m18.7s = 2:01:19.  LMT Moscow = LMT St.Petersburg + 30m 2:01:19 + 0:30 =
 # 2:31:19 ...
 #
@@ -3429,7 +3429,7 @@ Zone	Atlantic/Canary	-1:01:36 -	LMT	1922 Mar # Las Palmas de Gran C.
 # three degrees, or twelve minutes of time, to the west of the
 # meridian of the Observatory of Stockholm".  The law is dated 1878-05-31.
 #
-# The observatory at that time had the meridian 18 degrees 03' 30"
+# The observatory at that time had the meridian 18° 03' 30"
 # eastern longitude = 01:12:14 in time.  Less 12 minutes gives the
 # national standard time as 01:00:14 ahead of GMT....
 #
@@ -3533,7 +3533,7 @@ Zone Europe/Stockholm	1:12:12 -	LMT	1879 Jan  1
 # From Alois Treindl (2013-09-11):
 # The Federal regulations say
 # https://www.admin.ch/opc/de/classified-compilation/20071096/index.html
-# ... the meridian for Bern mean time ... is 7 degrees 26' 22.50".
+# ... the meridian for Bern mean time ... is 7° 26' 22.50".
 # Expressed in time, it is 0h29m45.5s.
 
 # From Pierre-Yves Berger (2013-09-11):
diff --git a/northamerica b/northamerica
index dabca97..f4e38f8 100644
--- a/northamerica
+++ b/northamerica
@@ -424,8 +424,7 @@ Zone America/North_Dakota/New_Salem -6:45:39 - LMT	1883 Nov 18 12:14:21
 # ...according to the Census Bureau, the largest city is Beulah (although
 # it's commonly referred to as Beulah-Hazen, with Hazen being the next
 # largest city in Mercer County).  Google Maps places Beulah's city hall
-# at 47 degrees 15' 51" N, 101 degrees 46' 40" W, which yields an offset
-# of 6h47'07".
+# at 47° 15' 51" N, 101° 46' 40" W, which yields an offset of 6h47'07".
 
 Zone America/North_Dakota/Beulah -6:47:07 - LMT	1883 Nov 18 12:12:53
 			-7:00	US	M%sT	2010 Nov  7  2:00
@@ -458,7 +457,7 @@ Zone America/Denver	-6:59:56 -	LMT	1883 Nov 18 12:00:04
 # California, northern Idaho (Benewah, Bonner, Boundary, Clearwater,
 # Kootenai, Latah, Lewis, Nez Perce, and Shoshone counties, Idaho county
 # north of the Salmon River, and the towns of Burgdorf and Warren),
-# Nevada (except West Wendover), Oregon (except the northern 3/4 of
+# Nevada (except West Wendover), Oregon (except the northern ¾ of
 # Malheur county), and Washington
 
 # From Paul Eggert (2016-08-20):
diff --git a/southamerica b/southamerica
index d97343e..c6c461c 100644
--- a/southamerica
+++ b/southamerica
@@ -1694,7 +1694,7 @@ Link America/Port_of_Spain America/Tortola	# Virgin Islands (UK)
 # auspices of the National Institute for the Prediction of Time.  It is unclear
 # exactly what offset was used during this period, though Ley No. 7200 of
 # 1920-04-23 used the Observatory of the National Meteorological Institute in
-# Montevideo (S 34 deg. 54'33", W 056 deg. 12'45") as its reference meridian,
+# Montevideo (34° 54' 33" S, 56° 12' 45" W) as its reference meridian,
 # retarding legal time by 15 minutes 9 seconds from 1920-04-30 24:00,
 # resulting in UT-04.  Assume the corresponding LMT of UT-03:44:51 (given on
 # page 725 of the Proceedings of the Second Pan-American Scientific Congress,
diff --git a/zone1970.tab b/zone1970.tab
index a3b6b04..2d90ed7 100644
--- a/zone1970.tab
+++ b/zone1970.tab
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 #     of ISO 3166 2-character country codes.  See the file 'iso3166.tab'.
 # 2.  Latitude and longitude of the zone's principal location
 #     in ISO 6709 sign-degrees-minutes-seconds format,
-#     either +-DDMM+-DDDMM or +-DDMMSS+-DDDMMSS,
+#     either ±DDMM±DDDMM or ±DDMMSS±DDDMMSS,
 #     first latitude (+ is north), then longitude (+ is east).
 # 3.  Zone name used in value of TZ environment variable.
 #     Please see the theory.html file for how zone names are chosen.
-- 
2.14.3



More information about the tz mailing list