[tz] Introduce Etc/UTC+x timezones?

[Paul Eggert]

On 2023-04-21 06:32, Benjamin Drung via tz wrote:
> What do you think about the idea of introducing Etc/UTC+x timezones that
> have the "correct" offset so that people can select fixed offsets more
> easily?

Wouldn't this introduce confusion? Etc/UTC+2 would mean the opposite of 
Etc/GMT+2. We can't get rid of the latter name, due to backward 
compatibility. Furthermore, Etc/UTC+2 would magnify Etc/GMT+2's problem, 
in that it would tempt people into writing TZ='UTC+2' which is just wrong.

The bug reports you cited don't seem to be instances of user confusion 
with tzdata, only of frustration that dpkg-reconfigure presents these 
wrong-signed names to the user. However, those names are meant for 
internal use, just as the other Zone names are. So the real bug here 
seems to be with dpkg-reconfigure, not with tzdata.

In contrast, tzselect gets this right: it does not expose names like 
Etc/GMT+2 to the user.