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Re: [PING^3] RFC [PATCH] BZ#1077902: New API gettimezone
- From: Rich Felker <dalias at libc dot org>
- To: P J P <pj dot pandit at yahoo dot co dot in>
- Cc: "libc-alpha at sourceware dot org" <libc-alpha at sourceware dot org>
- Date: Fri, 30 May 2014 16:29:29 -0400
- Subject: Re: [PING^3] RFC [PATCH] BZ#1077902: New API gettimezone
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- References: <538533EB dot 3000501 at cs dot ucla dot edu> <20140528085726 dot GA975 at domone dot podge> <5385F400 dot 2070201 at cs dot ucla dot edu> <1401357566 dot 99673 dot YahooMailNeo at web192401 dot mail dot sg3 dot yahoo dot com> <53873C3C dot 8050502 at cs dot ucla dot edu> <1401429290 dot 18994 dot YahooMailNeo at web192406 dot mail dot sg3 dot yahoo dot com> <53882317 dot 6050002 at cs dot ucla dot edu> <1401443081 dot 1000 dot YahooMailNeo at web192401 dot mail dot sg3 dot yahoo dot com> <5388984F dot 3010700 at cs dot ucla dot edu> <1401480135 dot 67824 dot YahooMailNeo at web192401 dot mail dot sg3 dot yahoo dot com>
On Sat, May 31, 2014 at 04:02:15AM +0800, P J P wrote:
> > string at the end of the tzdata file. It is not any other line from theÂ
> > tzdata file. It is not in the tzdata file anywhere. You are asking forÂ
> > something that does not exist.
>
> Â Again you are overlooking the _fact_ that if you ask users to
> define TZ variable, they are in most certainty, going to define it
> as the closet approximation _available_ to them. Most likely the
> last line from the tzdata file.
>
> If the theoretical accuracy and precision that you seek does not
> exist, why not provide what is available and what we can?
The "last line of the TZ file" is what's expected to be in effect past
times represented/representable in the zoneinfo file. There's no
reason to believe it corresponds to what was in effect at a particular
time the user might be interested in. It's fairly likely that it
corresponds to what's in effect "right now". But I think it's a really
bad idea to encourage further use of such zone specifications, which
are inadequate to describe many world timezones.
Rich