[tz] Introduce Etc/UTC+x timezones?
Dave Cantor
Dave at DaveCantor.us
Fri Apr 21 19:47:29 UTC 2023
Brian Inglis asked, "Anyone have access to earlier references to
Unix time zones or TZ in sources?"
I found one; see second paragraph below.
Let me start by saying that I'm an old-timer, and was interested
in timekeeping and time zones long before the internet. During
my time in the US Army (c. 1970), I recall we definitely used
positive numbers for the number of hours west of Greenwich.
(More often, though, we used letters, as 'R' for New York time.)
I found a map in a US Navy World Time Zone Chart published 1940
which shows positive numbers west of Greenwich and negative
numbers east. See https://www.ebay.com/itm/254655643832 .
I'm sure there are hundreds of naval charts from and before that
with the same convention.
When the internet was young and I first saw the use of negative
numbers for western offsets, I was sure it was a mistake. I
still think so.
Dave C.
Date sent: Fri, 21 Apr 2023 12:10:39 -0600
To: tz at iana.org
Organization: Inglis
Subject: Re: [tz] Introduce Etc/UTC+x timezones?
From: Brian Inglis via tz <tz at iana.org>
Send reply to: Brian.Inglis at Shaw.ca
> 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
>
> --
> This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software.
> www.avg.com
More information about the tz
mailing list