[tz] timezone Verschlimmbesserung

[Philip Paeps]

On 2021-09-29 19:20:36 (+0800), Tony Finch via tz wrote:
> I have identified two policy changes that caused this argument.
>
> [...]
>
> I think the way to fix this is to revert both policy changes, and 
> revert
> all the timezone merges.

I agree with this.

Moreover, I wonder if we should not also consider merging the contents 
of backzone back into the main data files.  The backzone file was 
introduced in 2014 as a home for out-of-scope and/or poorly-sourced 
data.

Instead of providing build options to increase the size of the tzdata 
distribution, I believe we should go the other way.  Contemporary 
systems are by default "large".  Developers working on smaller embedded 
devices are accustomed to making changes to reduce the footprint of the 
data/code they consume.

Note that I am not suggesting that we step away from our long-standing 
policy that timestamps before 1970 are out of scope.  My suggestion is 
that we gain nothing from putting out-of-scope data into a separate 
file.  Our documentation of the policy suffices.

Philip

-- 
Philip Paeps
Senior Reality Engineer
Alternative Enterprises