[tz] tzdb timezone names/identifiers and links

Steffen Nurpmeso steffen at sdaoden.eu
Wed Feb 27 17:43:00 UTC 2019


Steve Allen wrote in <20190226221745.GA19009 at ucolick.org>:
 |On Tue 2019-02-26T20:00:54+0000 Paul.Koning at dell.com hath writ:
 |> Once in a while it is suggested that all tzdb zones should be
 |> identified by random unique integers, or something like that.  I'm
 |> more and more inclined to think that's a good idea, because it would
 |> once and for all shut down this confusion.
 |
 |This seems to be a proposal to
 |1) Move the arguments to be Somebody Else's Problem, somewhere else.

I had a message with almost the same content as what papa Koning
said, but did not send it, last Saturday i think it was.
Paul Eggert gave a really explosive example, and many others
possibly exist (you will always find someone who is pissed by
something, but this is .. land).

I did not send it because i could not imagine something better.
I think Paul Eggert himself imagined numeric identifiers.  Then
tzselect would say "zone 000105 has been chosen for you".  Well.
It is also harder for the maintainer i guess.  Europe/00105 maybe.
Maybe tzselect could simply dump the last five rules for the
chosen one, instead of saying something else.

 |2) Break a lot of existing interfaces to achieve that goal.
 |
 |I cannot begin to calculate the cost of 2) but given the number of
 |downstream interfaces which use tzdb it seems likely larger than the
 |cost of tolerating the discussions on this list.

Then again from America noises spread the world which made me
frightened when thinking where my hands have been when i was
a teenager!  (Not to talk about my more adult hands.)

--steffen
|
|Der Kragenbaer,                The moon bear,
|der holt sich munter           he cheerfully and one by one
|einen nach dem anderen runter  wa.ks himself off
|(By Robert Gernhardt)



More information about the tz mailing list