- tz - lists.iana.org

RE: still more problems with the formatting in the tz datafiles
by Olson, Arthur David (NCI) April 29, 2002

April 29, 2002

The zic manual page notes that Input lines are made up of fields. Fields are separated from one another by any number of white space characters. so there's nothing "wild" about the format of the files. --ado -----Original Message----- From: Tony Blackmon [mailto:tblackmon@wilbursmith.com] Sent: Friday, April 26, 2002 2:54 PM To: tz(a)elsie.nci.nih.gov Subject: still more problems with the formatting in the tz datafiles i am finding more and more of these. each header comment is clearly marked with tabs delimiting the file, but when you get into the guts of the data some of these tabs are spaces. how do you parse the tzdata text files if the formatting is not correct? as i stated before, i am working under a windows environment, but still want to handle timezone conversion and client timezone selection using the tzcode data. it perplexes me as to how this all works with the data files formatted so wildly. is it meant to be this way or is all of this accidental or unnoticed? --fluid

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FW: still more problems with the formatting in the tz datafiles
by Olson, Arthur David (NCI) April 29, 2002

April 29, 2002

Tony Blackmon is not on the time zone mailing list; direct replies appropriately. --ado -----Original Message----- From: Tony Blackmon [mailto:tblackmon@wilbursmith.com] Sent: Friday, April 26, 2002 2:54 PM To: tz(a)elsie.nci.nih.gov Subject: still more problems with the formatting in the tz datafiles i am finding more and more of these. each header comment is clearly marked with tabs delimiting the file, but when you get into the guts of the data some of these tabs are spaces. how do you parse the tzdata text files if the formatting is not correct? as i stated before, i am working under a windows environment, but still want to handle timezone conversion and client timezone selection using the tzcode data. it perplexes me as to how this all works with the data files formatted so wildly. is it meant to be this way or is all of this accidental or unnoticed? --fluid

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Time zones?
by MrPek＠aol.com April 26, 2002

April 26, 2002

Hi Im trying to get information on time zones and daylight saving times for cities around the world. Do you have such information, such as the time zone offsets and when the daylight saving time is introduced and removed each year for cites? Thanks for your help Greg Wilson.

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still more problems with the formatting in the tz datafiles
by Tony Blackmon April 26, 2002

April 26, 2002

i am finding more and more of these. each header comment is clearly marked with tabs delimiting the file, but when you get into the guts of the data some of these tabs are spaces. how do you parse the tzdata text files if the formatting is not correct? as i stated before, i am working under a windows environment, but still want to handle timezone conversion and client timezone selection using the tzcode data. it perplexes me as to how this all works with the data files formatted so wildly. is it meant to be this way or is all of this accidental or unnoticed? --fluid

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Re: dislocated time/space regions
by Alex Livingston April 10, 2002

April 10, 2002

Hi Rives and others. The time kept in the three "towns" you mention is half way between the times in Western Australia (WA) and South Australia (SA) only when South Australia is NOT observing daylight-saving time. When it is, these towns are 1&3/4 hours behind SA, but only 3/4 of an hour (less than half as much) ahead of WA. This on-the-quarter hour offset must make it a pain in the neck working out from local time what the times in WA and SA are (not to mention the rest of the world, except Nepal and the Chatham Islands), and it would seem to me much more sensible and convenient if their clocks were kept a whole hour ahead of WA (making them 9 hours ahead of UTC and 21 hours ahead of the date line, the same as Japan and eastern Indonesia). If they did that, they would be 1&1/2 hours behind SA during its daylight-saving period (only a half-as-much again greater offset than from WA) and 1/2 an hour behind for the rest of the year. This would also make time-conversion arithmetic much easier for almost everywhere on earth. Sorry; I've strayed into suggestion/prescription (as opposed to description) again. Rives: I'd love to know how I can get in touch with the sheriff of Madura, so I can put my suggestion to him/her. (Am I right that Nepal and the Chatham Islands are the only other surviving quarter-hour-offset zones in the world? The Chatham Islands in particular are a basket case, having simply added half an hour to their time along with the rest of New Zealand in 1947, thus breaking their connection with mean solar time anyway, and then adopting daylight saving as well! They "should" either go forward 1/4 of an hour or back 3/4 of an hour.) :Alex -------------------------------------------------------------- Alex Livingston Macintosh & Lotus Notes Support, Information Technology Australian Graduate School of Management UNSW SYDNEY NSW 2052 Australia Tel: +61 2 9931-9264 Fax: +61 2 9931-9349 Email: alex(a)agsm.edu.au Web: http://www.agsm.edu.au The Australian Graduate School of Management is a School of both The University of Sydney & The University of New South Wales. CRICOS Provider Number: 00098G Rives McDow <rmcdow@entel To: elsie <tz(a)elsie.nci.nih.gov> es.com> cc: Subject: dislocated time/space regions 2002-04-10 01:44 The most interesting region I have found consists of three towns on the southern coast of Australia, population 10 at last report, along with 50,000 sheep, about 100 kilometers long and 40 kilometers into the continent. The primary town is Madura, with the other towns being Mundrabilla and Eucla. According to the sheriff of Madura, the residents got tired of having to change the time so often, as they are located in a strip overlapping the border of South Australia and Western Australia. South Australia observes daylight saving time; Western Australia does not. The two states are one and a half hours apart. The residents decided to forget about this nonsense of changing the clock so much and set the local time 20 hours and 45 minutes from the international date line, or right in the middle of the time of South Australia and Western Australia. As it only affects about 10 people and tourists staying at the Madura Motel, it has never really made as big an impact as Broken Hill. However, as tourist visiting there or anyone calling the local sheriff will attest, they do keep time in this way. There are quite a few of these types of regions in the world; I'll try and post them as I get the time. Rives McDow

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Principalities etc.
by Oscar van Vlijmen April 9, 2002

April 9, 2002

Other regions which are ignored by many: Sealand ---------- Sealand was founded as a sovereign principality in 1967 in international waters, six miles off the eastern shores of Britain. 51.53N 01.28E. Local time: probably like UK. http://www.sealandgov.com/ Seborga ---------- Principato di Seborga. A principality since 1079, officiallly still not a part of Italy. Located in Liguria, close to the French border. Local time: probably like Italy. http://www.seborga.org/ Transnistria ---------------- Part of Moldova, a former USSR state. Some Ukrainians and Russians have proclaimed a Republic of Transnistria. Tiraspol', 46.85N 29.63E. Local time: probably like Moldova. Facts & figures: http://www.inyourpocket.com/Moldova/Moldova_basic.shtml http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/md.html Oscar van Vlijmen 2002-04-09

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FW: Daylight Saving Time - Palestine
by Olson, Arthur David (NCI) April 8, 2002

April 8, 2002

Michael Douma is not on the time zone mailing list; direct replies appropriately. --ado -----Original Message----- From: Michael Douma [mailto:doumalist@michaeldouma.com] Sent: Monday, April 08, 2002 2:49 PM To: calNDR-L(a)ECUMAIL7.ECU.EDU Cc: Carl D. Goldin; tz(a)elsie.nci.nih.gov Subject: Re: Daylight Saving Time - Palestine Greetings, Do you know of groups (other than the Palestinians) that have decided to use THEIR OWN DST dates, independent of their surrounding country? I am interested in both past and present. I am in discussions right now with a gentleman named Carl D. Goldin, about the observance of Daylight Saving Time in the world. He has pointed out that if I list the Palestinians on a web site about DST, that it is only fair to list other non-country entities. I included information from Amos Shapir in the TZ archive about Palestine. http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/g.html I don't think this has ever com up on the list, and I have skimmed the TZ archives. Michael On Monday, April 8, 2002, at 01:53 PM, Carl D. Goldin wrote: > 1) My objection, and that of the others who wrote you on the subject, > is that there is currently no country by the name of "Palestine". So, > it is inaccurate (and an offensive political stattement) to include it > in your list of "countries", just as it would be to include disputed > territories such as the Kashmir, aspiring nations such as the Basque > Republic, former nations such as Rhodesia, or unclassifiable entities > such as Aryan Nations. > ------------------------------------------- Michael Douma Editor, WebExhibits http://webexhibits.org/

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Re: Daylight Saving Time - Palestine
by Michael Douma April 8, 2002

April 8, 2002

Greetings, Do you know of groups (other than the Palestinians) that have decided to use THEIR OWN DST dates, independent of their surrounding country? I am interested in both past and present. I am in discussions right now with a gentleman named Carl D. Goldin, about the observance of Daylight Saving Time in the world. He has pointed out that if I list the Palestinians on a web site about DST, that it is only fair to list other non-country entities. I included information from Amos Shapir in the TZ archive about Palestine. http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/g.html I don't think this has ever com up on the list, and I have skimmed the TZ archives. Michael On Monday, April 8, 2002, at 01:53 PM, Carl D. Goldin wrote: > 1) My objection, and that of the others who wrote you on the subject, > is that there is currently no country by the name of "Palestine". So, > it is inaccurate (and an offensive political stattement) to include it > in your list of "countries", just as it would be to include disputed > territories such as the Kashmir, aspiring nations such as the Basque > Republic, former nations such as Rhodesia, or unclassifiable entities > such as Aryan Nations. > ------------------------------------------- Michael Douma Editor, WebExhibits http://webexhibits.org/

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Help on time zone data
by Avery Chan April 7, 2002

April 7, 2002

Hi, I'm trying to parse the compiled (i.e.zic'd) time zone files. Is there a document indicating the exact structure of the files? I did a 'man tzfile' but it's not exact: NAME tzfile - time zone information SYNOPSIS #include <tzfile.h> DESCRIPTION The time zone information files used by tzset(3) begin with bytes reserved for future use, followed by six four- byte values of type long, written in a ``standard'' byte order (the high-order byte of the value is written first). These values are, in order: How many bytes is "...bytes..."? What would be most helpful is some code (preferably in C) showing how to parse the files. Also I looked at the rule files, and I sort of understand them, but I'm not too sure what the format is exactly as well as some of the syntax (e.g. what is 'Link')? Thanks, Avery -- At the back of the Daylight Saving scheme I detect the bony, blue-fingered hand of Puritanism, eager to push people into bed earlier, and get them up earlier, to make them healthy, wealthy and wise in spite of themselves. -- Robertson Davies, The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks I wish Daylight Saving Time would die. -- Avery Chan

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Time Zone converter
by Katie_Lunday＠capgroup.com April 5, 2002

April 5, 2002

I'm having trouble finding New Zealand time zones. I found one for Pacific/Auckland but it doesn't convert correctly so I'm not sure if that is a different Auckland from the one in New Zealand? If the other coordinate is US/Pacific the dates should be different because of the date line but the conversion with Pacific/Auckland has it on the same day as US/Pacific. Any suggestions? Thank you, Katie Lunday Capital International tel: 310/996-6175 fax: 310/996-6511 email: katie_lunday(a)capgroup.com

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