[tz] Introduce Etc/UTC+x timezones?

[Brian Inglis]

On 2023-04-21 07:32, Benjamin Drung via tz wrote:
> If people are aware of timezones, they often know UTC and their offsets
> (e.g. Europe/Berlin is UTC+2 summer). But they are probably not aware
> that the Etc/GMT offsets are inverted (e.g. you have to select Etc/GMT-2
> for UTC+2). I was not aware of that and other people as well as the bugs
> in Ubuntu and Debian indicate (see https://launchpad.net/bugs/1325949
> and https://bugs.debian.org/540305).
> 
> 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? So Etc/GMT-2 would be renamed to Etc/UTC+2 and Etc/GMT-2 would
> become a symlink to it (same for all other Etc/GMT+x and Etc/GMT-x
> timezones).

ISO 4031:1978 first defined the representation of local time differentials, 
commonly referred to as time zones, with -W/+E.

It appears POSIX +W/-E derives from SVID issue 1, published 1985 based on SVR2, 
possibly in (commercial) AT&T Unix 5 or earlier, supporting GMT and US time 
zones all positive.

Anyone have access to earlier references to Unix time zones or TZ in sources?

-- 
Take care. Thanks, Brian Inglis              Calgary, Alberta, Canada

La perfection est atteinte                   Perfection is achieved
non pas lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à ajouter  not when there is no more to add
mais lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à retirer     but when there is no more to cut
                                 -- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry