[tz] On ISO country for timezones (Re: Classifying IDs)

Clive D.W. Feather clive at davros.org
Thu Oct 7 15:29:31 UTC 2021


Stephen Colebourne via tz said:
> What I'm trying to do is:
> - get agreement that tzdb has IDs beyond those needed for the abstract
> region system
> - that those IDs are in widespread use
> - that those IDs should be considered a fully supported aspect of tzdb
> because of their widespread use
> - that there is a clear rule expressing which IDs are fully supported
> and which are deprecated.

I don't see the word "deprecated" anywhere in the theory file. Who is
saying that IDs should be deprecated and what do they mean by that term?

> Think of it as overlapping concerns. There is a minimal set of IDs
> that are needed for timezone reasons (abstract regions like
> Europe/Berlin and Africa/Abidjan). And there is an overlapping set of
> IDs that have existed for a very long time, are very widely used, but
> are considered by some to be deprecated. A typical downstream user
> *cannot tell the difference* between the two types of ID - they both
> look and act exactly the same.

So long as they don't disappear, why does the downstream user care?

So what you're saying is that we need to be clear when a name can
disappear. Completely. From the database that the downstream user sees.

-- 
Clive D.W. Feather          | If you lie to the compiler,
Email: clive at davros.org     | it will get its revenge.
Web: http://www.davros.org  |   - Henry Spencer
Mobile: +44 7973 377646


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