[tz] [PROPOSED] Do not assume bytes have 8 bits

[Paul Eggert]

On 4/23/21 2:07 PM, Clive D.W. Feather wrote:
> It had a 16-bit byte, which was fine when you were used to it but would
> confuse new staff, and we programmed it (mostly) in C.

Yes, quite a few CPUs like that exist in the embedded world. And 
historically some mainframish CPUs had 9-, or even variable-width bytes. 
I put "theoretical interest" in that zic.c commit message only because 
as I understand it none of those CPUs are practical platforms for 
running zic today.

Come to think of it, even if they were practical platforms the unpatched 
zic.c code would likely work anyway because high-order bits would be 
silently discarded on output.