[tz] Undoing the effect of the new alike-since-1970 patch

[Michael H Deckers]

On 2021-06-09 09:29, Stephen Colebourne via tz wrote:
> Look at it this way, your patch (and probably previous ones) are
> making a political statement of the kind you say you don't want. The
> file `europe` contains full commentary for Germany:
>   https://github.com/eggert/tz/blob/main/europe#L1397-L1452
> yet Sweden and Norway get just 2 lines:
>   https://github.com/eggert/tz/blob/main/europe#L3383-L3384
> with the actual commentary relegated to the semi-trash can of
> `backzone`.Where is the fairness in that? I'd also point out that the
> file is structured by country, which makes a mockery of the idea that
> timezones are not connected to countries.



    I think you treat the tzdb data a bit harsh.

    tzdb uses political countries only internally, as regions
    of the surface of the Earth. This is a matter of practicality,
    not of concept. No "political statements" are made, none
    are contained in the TZif files for users.

    And "backzone/" should be considered as a repository for
    historical data that is (currently) not needed by the
    majority of tzdb users. Some of these data is carefully
    researched by a multitude of people, and is available
    nowhere else. And there are a few users of these data!

    Comments are located close to the the "Zone" and "Rule" data
    they concern (except for the NOTEs in australasia) -- I find
    that fair.

    Michael Deckers.