[tz] Introduce Etc/UTC+x timezones?

[Tim Parenti]

On Tue, 2 May 2023 at 11:19, Benjamin Drung <benjamin.drung at canonical.com>
wrote:

> Help on wording will be highly appreciated. Currently debconf will ask
> "Please select the city or region corresponding to your time zone. Time
> zone: GMT, GMT+0, GMT+1, ..., GMT-9, Greenwich, UCT, UTC, Universal,
> Zulu".
>
> Draft: "Please select the offset corresponding to your time zone.
> Contrary to UTC, positive values to GMT refer to zones west to Greenwich
> and negative values to east to Greenwich (e.g. UTC-6 = GMT+6). Time
> zone: GMT, GMT+0, GMT+1, ..., GMT-9, Greenwich, UCT, UTC, Universal,
> Zulu".
>

It would be more accurate to say something more along the lines of:

"Contrary to modern conventions, POSIX-compatible zones use positive values
to refer to zones west of Greenwich and negative values for those east of
Greenwich (e.g., 'Etc/GMT+6' refers to 6 hours west of Greenwich, commonly
called 'UTC-6')."

On Tue, 2 May 2023 at 12:43, Benjamin Drung via tz <tz at iana.org> wrote:

> For the tz project UTC = GMT, isn't it?
>

To most practical effect, yes.  That's why, if possible, I would recommend
avoiding exposing POSIX-signed terms like "GMT±n" without the leading
"Etc/" used in the full zone name, as that could contribute further to
exactly the type of confusion you seek to avoid.

--
Tim Parenti
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