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Administrivia: Mailing List Archives
by Kim Davies Feb. 25, 2024

Feb. 25, 2024

Hi all, We’ve done a little bit of work to fix some old corrupted email messages in the mailing list archive at http://mm.icann.org/pipermail/tz/. They’ve been corrupted ever since they were originally imported over a decade ago, but were noticed by an astute reader recently. Also, some of the historical links were broken for roughly the last three weeks for an unrelated reason, but these should work as expected now. If you notice anything awry please let me know. kim

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leap-seconds.list format
by Byron Torres Feb. 19, 2024

Feb. 19, 2024

Good day, I write here to you knowledgeable people in the hopes you can clarify some things regarding the format of leap-seconds.list file. Please forgive me if there is a more appropriate place to ask. Recently it seems the IERS has changed the format of the leap-seconds.list file they serve[1], from the old format by NIST[2]. The comments are reworded, the lines wrap at a large width, and most importantly, the whitespace between the decimal timestamps and time-differences, previously a tab, have been replaced with spaces. [1] https://hpiers.obspm.fr/iers/bul/bulc/ntp/leap-seconds.list [2] ftp://ftp.boulder.nist.gov/pub/time/leap-seconds.list This, coupled with the fact that the tz repository recently began fetching from this source (I understand that is because the NIST source was flaky), has broken a leap-seconds.list parser[3] used by the standard library of the Hare systems programming language[4], a language akin to a modern C. I'm the maintainer of the Hare stdlib date/time subsystem[5]. [3] https://git.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/hare/tree/d0c057dbbb0f1ee9179769e187c0fbd3b0032… [4] https://harelang.org/ [5] https://harelang.org/who For context, Hare sources leap-seconds.list for UTC-TAI leapsecond data and implements timescales like UTC, TAI, GPS, etc. Hare could source from a TZIF file specified by $TZ, but the decoupling of timezone and leapsecond data allows for multi-timescale programming. We are working to improve Hare and to begin stable quarterly releases, so we ideally want guarantees for how leap-seconds.list is formatted. My questions are: * What was the motivation for the changes in IERS'es leap-seconds.list file? Is there a record of discussion regarding this? * What was the motivation specifically for the spaces-to-tab change? Did another commonly used software implement a forgiving parser? * What is the history of the leap-seconds.list file and file format? * Is the format for leap-seconds.list defined? Where and how strongly? * If there is no strong, formal definition, would a formal definition of the leap-seconds.list file format be welcome? To whom could I coordinate with? * Could at least the spaces be changed back to tabs? Personally, I do not like the idea of a make-time conversion script. It would be ideal for the source file to make this change, but before I email the contact mentioned in the new file, I thought to prod here first. Timely regards, b

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timezone-related error sparks $340 million lawsuit
by Paul Eggert Feb. 18, 2024

Feb. 18, 2024

In "US man sues Powerball lottery after being told his apparent $340m win was error"[1], Maya Yang reported in today's Guardian that a mistake caused by a quality-assurance team checking timezone configuration for a Powerball lottery website has snowballed into a $340 million lawsuit against the lottery. Due to the mistake, in which a test version of the website was loaded with random numbers, the lottery's production website temporarily displayed the wrong winning numbers. A man whose ticket matched those numbers is now suing the lottery for the $340 million prize, saying he is the rightful winner. Yang reported that the errant QA team was testing "a task involving a changing of time zones for the Powerball website from Coordinated Universal Time to Eastern Standard Time." [1]: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/18/man-sues-powerball-lottery-…

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Checked arithmetic bug
by Dag-Erling Smørgrav Feb. 16, 2024

Feb. 16, 2024

In at least one instance around line 1187 of localtime.c, the code assumes that increment_overflow_time() does not modify the result if the operation overflowed, but that is not true when using C23 checked arithmetic. Details: https://bugs.freebsd.org/276281, particularly comment 11. One possible solution is attached. I'm not overly fond of it because it penalizes the common case, but it was easier than trying to understand and reformulate the loop in tzparse(). DES -- Dag-Erling Smørgrav - des(a)des.no

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the Republic of Kazakhstan
by ЕЛИКБАЕВ КУАНЫШ НУРЛАНОВИЧ Feb. 5, 2024

Feb. 5, 2024

Dear colleagues, Technical Regulation and Metrology Committee of the Ministry of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan (CTRM) takes this opportunity to express its assurances of the highest consideration. CTRM participates in the implementation of strategic functions of the Ministry in the areas of technical regulation and Metrology. CTRM informs that by the Decree of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated January 19, 2024 No. 20, amendments have been made to the Decree of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated November 23, 2000 No. 1749 «On the procedure for calculating time on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan» (https://zan.gov.kz/client/#!/doc/192700/rus) which provides, among other things, for the Akimats of the cities of Astana, Almaty, Shymkent, Akmola, Almaty, Zhambyl, Karaganda, Kostanay, Pavlodar, North Kazakhstan, Turkestan, East Kazakhstan regions and Abay, Zhetisu, Ulytau regions, on the night of February 29, 2024 to March 1, 2024 (Astana time, 12:00 a.m.), to transfer local time back 1 hour Information that the Republic of Kazakhstan is switching to Single Time Zone (UTC+05:00) is sent for accounting in work when interacting with government agencies and organizations of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Please find the attached letter. Sincerely, Mr. Kuanysh Yelikbayev Chairman

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Kazakhstan to shift from UTC+6 to UTC+5
by Dauren Sarsenov Feb. 4, 2024

Feb. 4, 2024

Hello, all. There is an upcoming timezone change I want to inform you about. In Kazakhstan we are moving away from UTC+6 to UTC+5 across all areas of the country. The change is effective at 00:00 1 march 2024. The clock will shift 1 hour back. After the change, only the UTC+5 timezone will remain in the country. I have linked the official statement (no Eng version of the statement though) and some links to news articles: 1) KAZ: https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/mti/press/news/details/688998?lang=kk 2) RUS: https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/mti/press/news/details/688998?lang=ru 3) KAZ: http://law.gov.kz/client/#!/doc/192700/kaz 4) RUS: http://law.gov.kz/client/#!/doc/192700/rus 5) ENG: https://daryo.uz/en/2024/01/21/kazakhstan-set-to-shift-to-utc5-time-zone-on… 6) ENG: https://qazmonitor.com/news/2430/kazakhstan-to-change-the-clocks-to-single-… The news broke 19th of january, hence informing you at the short notice. Best regards Dauren Sarsenov

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[PROPOSED] Update Israel tz-link
by Paul Eggert Feb. 3, 2024

Feb. 3, 2024

* tz-link.html (National histories of legal time): Update Israel tz history link. (Thanks to Ephraim Silverberg.) --- tz-link.html | 7 ++++--- 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/tz-link.html b/tz-link.html index f11873d9..d41bbce6 100644 --- a/tz-link.html +++ b/tz-link.html @@ -897,9 +897,10 @@ summarizes and cites historical <abbr>DST</abbr> regulations.</dd> href="https://www.ptb.de/cms/en/fachabteilungen/abt4/fb-44/ag-441/realisation-of-…">Realisation of Legal Time in Germany</a>.</dd> <dt>Israel</dt> -<dd>The Interior Ministry periodically issues <a -href="ftp://ftp.cs.huji.ac.il/pub/tz/announcements" -hreflang="he">announcements (in Hebrew)</a>.</dd> +<dd><a +href="https://tz.cs.huji.ac.il/">Israel Timezone Files</a> +lists official time-change announcements and laws since 1940, +almost all in Hebrew.</dd> <dt>Malaysia</dt> <dd>See Singapore <a href="#Singapore">below</a>.</dd> <dt>Mexico</dt> -- 2.40.1

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Extending winter time in Palestine
by heba.hamad Feb. 3, 2024

Feb. 3, 2024

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RFC 8536bis
by Michael H Deckers Feb. 2, 2024

Feb. 2, 2024

In 2014b, the new tzdb timezone for Antarctica/Troll required regular switches among three offsets for the foreseeable future. This led to an extension of the TZif format so that the footer could contain two TZ strings (or so I thought); the timezone Antarctica/Troll, hwever, was modified so as to not yet require the new TZif feature. Now it appears that the latest specification "RFC 8536bis" of the TZif format does not allow for two TZ strings in the footer (or at least I did not detect it). Does that mean that the feature "two TZ strings" in a TZif file is further postponed, or is it dropped for good? Michael Deckers.

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[PROPOSED 1/2] Streamline tz-link a bit
by Paul Eggert Feb. 1, 2024

Feb. 1, 2024

* tz-link.html: Defer to the Timezone Boundary Builder web page for a list of libraries that use it, as its list is larger and better-maintained than ours. Mention how old the Manifold map is. Mention WRC 2023 resolution on leap seconds. --- tz-link.html | 36 ++++++++---------------------------- 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 28 deletions(-) diff --git a/tz-link.html b/tz-link.html index 78c266ee..9fb57c90 100644 --- a/tz-link.html +++ b/tz-link.html @@ -787,32 +787,9 @@ boundaries of <code><abbr>tzdb</abbr></code> timezones. Its code is freely available under the <abbr>MIT</abbr> license, and its data entries are freely available under the <a href="https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/">Open Data Commons -Open Database License</a>. The maps' borders appear to be quite accurate.</li> -<li>Programmatic interfaces that map geographical coordinates via tz_world to -<code><abbr>tzdb</abbr></code> timezones include: -<ul> -<li><a href="https://github.com/mj1856/GeoTimeZone">GeoTimeZone</a> is -written in <a -href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_Sharp_(programming_language)">C#</a> -and is freely available under the <abbr>MIT</abbr> license.</li> -<li>The <a href="https://github.com/bradfitz/latlong">latlong package</a> -is written in Go and is freely available under the Apache License.</li> -<li><a href="https://github.com/drtimcooper/LatLongToTimezone">LatLongToTimezone</a>, -in both Java and -<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swift_(programming_language)">Swift</a> -form, is freely available under the MIT license.</li> -<li>For Node.js, -the <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/package/geo-tz">geo-tz module</a> -is freely available under the MIT license, and -the <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/package/tz-lookup">tz-lookup module</a> -is in the public domain.</li> -<li>The <a -href="https://github.com/MrMinimal64/timezonefinder">timezonefinder</a> -library for Python is freely available under the MIT license. -<li>The <a -href="https://github.com/gunyarakun/timezone_finder">timezone_finder</a> -library for Ruby is freely available under the MIT license.</li> -</ul></li> +Open Database License</a>. The borders appear to be quite accurate. +Its main web page lists more than twenty libraries +for looking up a timezone name from a GPS coordinate.</li> <li>Free access via a network API, if you register a key, is provided by the <a href="https://www.geonames.org/export/web-services.html#timezone">GeoNames @@ -833,7 +810,7 @@ Divisions of Countries ("Statoids")</a> lists political subdivision data related to time zones.</li> <li><a href="https://manifold.net/info/freestuff.shtml">Manifold Software – GIS and Database Tools</a> includes a Manifold-format map of -world time zone boundaries distributed under the +world time zone boundaries circa 2007, distributed under the <abbr>GPL</abbr>.</li> <li>A ship within the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_waters">territorial @@ -1133,9 +1110,12 @@ might be redefined without Leap Seconds</a> gives pointers on this contentious issue. The General Conference on Weights and Measures -<a href="https://www.bipm.org/en/cgpm-2022/resolution-4">voted in 2022</a> +<a href="https://www.bipm.org/en/cgpm-2022/resolution-4">decided in 2022</a> to discontinue the use of leap seconds by 2035, replacing them with an as-yet-undetermined scheme some time after the year 2135. +The World Radiocommunication Conference <a +href="https://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-r/opb/act/R-ACT-WRC.15-2023-PDF-E.pdf">resolved +in 2023</a> to cooperate with this process. </li> </ul> </section> -- 2.40.1

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