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TZ-related changes in Draft 5 of the next POSIX standard
by Paul Eggert Jan. 9, 2001

Jan. 9, 2001

The Austin Common Standards Revision Group is drafting the next revision of POSIX, and Draft 5 (d5) is now available; see <http://www.opengroup.org/austin/>. Here are some tz-related changes in this draft: * The TZ string has been extended to allow time zone abbreviations with +, -, and digits, so long as the abbreviations are quoted by angle brackets. For example, the Bourne shell commands TZ='<UTC+10>-10' date; date -u might output the following text: Tue Jan 9 10:30:19 UTC+10 2001 Tue Jan 9 00:30:19 GMT 2001 * Conforming time zone abbreviations are no longer allowed to contain arbitrary characters. Unquoted abbreviations can contain only alphabetic characters in the current locale; quoted ones can also contain digits, '+', and '-'. * Multibyte characters are explicitly allowed in time zone abbreviations, e.g. TZ='AB@-10' might specify an abbreviation 'AB@-' if '@-' is a valid multibyte character in the current locale. * The following declarations are added to <time.h>: char *asctime_r(const struct tm *restrict, char *restrict); char *ctime_r(const time_t *, char *); struct tm *localtime_r(const time_t *restrict, struct tm *restrict); struct tm *gmtime_r(const time_t *restrict, struct tm *restrict); struct tm *getdate(const char *); char *strptime(const char *restrict, const char *restrict, struct tm *restrict); extern int daylight; extern long timezone; * The following declaration is added to <wchar.h>, as per ISO C99: size_t wcsftime(wchar_t *restrict wcs, size_t maxsize, const wchar_t *restrict format, const struct tm *restrict timptr); Here is the TZ-environment-variable-relevant part of the text that has changed; this covers the first three items mentioned above. I have included change bars in the text quoted below. The unchanged part appears in section 8.1.1 of the current POSIX standard. The expanded format (for all TZs whose value does not have a colon as the first character) is as follows: stdoffset[dst[offset][,start[/time],end[/time]]] Where: std and dst Indicate no less than three, nor more than {TZNAME_MAX}, bytes that are the designation for the standard (std) or the alternative (dst-such as Daylight Savings Time) timezone. Only std is required; if dst is missing, then the alternative time does not apply in this locale. | | Each of these fields may occur in either of two formats quoted or | unquoted: | | - In the quoted form, the first character shall be the less-than | ('<') character and the last character shall be the | greater-than ('>') character. All characters between these | quoting characters shall be alphanumeric characters in the | current locale, the plus-sign ('+') character, or the | minus-sign ('-') character. The std and dst fields in this case | do not include the quoting characters. | | - In the unquoted form, all characters in these fields shall be | alphabetic characters in the current locale. | | The interpretation of these fields is unspecified if either field is | less than three bytes (except for the case when dst is missing), | more than {TZNAME_MAX} bytes, or if they contain characters | other than those specified.

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IERS Message No. 1
by IERS Central Bureau Jan. 2, 2001

Jan. 2, 2001

*************************************************************************** IERS Message No. 1 January 2, 2001 *************************************************************************** Dear IERS contributors and users As of 1 January 2001 the International Earth Rotation Service has got a new structure with the following novelties: - The previous Sections and Sub-Bureaus of the Central Bureau are now autonomous components within the IERS and are called Product Centres. - The Central Bureau moved from Paris to Frankfurt am Main in Germany and has now primarily administrative functions but will operate a data base for the relevant IERS products and data in the future. - New elements of the structure are Combination Research Centres, ITRS Combination Centres and the Analysis Coordinator. - External services like IGS, ILRS and IVS serve as Technique Centres for the IERS. Several new members entered the Directing Board in December 2000, and recently Jan Vondrak was elected new Chairman of the Directing Board to succeed Chris Reigber on January l, 2001. On 1 January 2001 also a new Web site of the IERS went online: www.iers.org All previous IERS Web and ftp servers will remain active, providing information and data to the users. The new Web site www.iers.org, which will be enlarged and improved in the future, shall provide key information on the IERS and its components. It will also link to the IERS components and to other Web sites of interest. This IERS Message is the second in a series of short information on the IERS and its products for contributors and users. This series together with a planned series of IERS Newsletters will replace the IERS Gazettes, issued between 1996 and 2000. More information about the new IERS is given at the new IERS Web site. With kind regards and best wishes for the year 2001, for the IERS Central Bureau Bernd Richter and Wolfgang R. Dick PS: This IERS Message will be sent to all IERS contributors and users for which we have got an e-mail address from the former Central Bureau. In case that you are not interested in receiving future IERS Messages please let us know so your address may be from the mailing list. If you are reading this message at the Web site or elsewhere and wish to be put on the mailing list please send us a short notice. *************************************************************************** IERS Central Bureau Bundesamt fuer Kartographie und Geodaesie Federal Agency of Cartography and Geodesy Richard-Strauss-Allee 11 60598 Frankfurt am Main Germany phone: ++49-69-6333-273 fax: ++49-69-6333-425 e-mail: central_bureau(a)iers.org ***************************************************************************

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None
by Nick Strauss Dec. 31, 2000

Dec. 31, 2000

By my reckoning, Jan. 1, 2001 (Gregorian) Tevet 6, 5761 (Jewish) Shawwal 5, 1421 (Islamic) Pausa 11, 1922 (Indian Civil) 78 xin-Snake Dahan I, 8 (Chinese) Dec 19, 2000 (Julian) Kiyak 23, 1717 (Coptic) Takhas 24, 1994 (Ethiopian) Please tell me, I might have made an arithmetic error. By the way, the Gregorian calendar, to my limited knowledge, doesn't have a year zero. Nick ------------------------------------------------------------ Infinity Software nicks(a)chesco.com http://www.chesco.com/~nicks -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: PGPfreeware 5.0 for non-commercial use <http://www.pgp.com> mQGiBDdoMKoRBADcw8/3TTYvqLt9X2QXixoLX53ogj7gz3SbiWG49GBniARxq8Xd lRnq3Qq+k4vxsCVCtYRHidbXsRK9BkRgiVfvcJy/JpL/h1V2H2OSrc1Ks0KjUX2v Gb5AWPAg5WVcrNb2xUY5dcjmCRGUi/iXKtwnc+SmhVlM+dzDrbUtw3G9mwCg/4k5 5gkSJnmYEAdaN173UaYD+1cD/3YX/jrVfLD6N6zgFyMxmF/VeL0M1LgqLSw6PfM1 zVyMEHeOZzctgKic9re+r8HQa48b3cUR3zCV/ckt9RHDVqR6qCXmdsJtWKbHP0s+ 8LieGnws9L8nq2lmqDN4PYhHHm7BGToNrZrpdZWGO3vAq8FMiKUPp9nJY3rcTQs5 y6R6A/91Z7YdhpOdiQy2IMZZhLmbSIQ53NYU7C48+RdEUAIkW5l0rtfKA2J5jDi/ s5Q64F04tXkI6CnD8+ljIJ+xEUj8kLnBixeCFoHAprsnM9sGj/+UxRvD2jcQ7ZzH itrtQfU2erwo79imWo7uOERBako6JNv+PG6tqVfyWVbY8ZWXW7QjbmljaG9sYXMg c3RyYXVzcyA8bmNzQGFsdW0ubWl0LmVkdT6JAEsEEBECAAsFAjdoMKoECwMBAgAK CRBl84DJ8rcStH4gAJ4wbHWNlme4+yWVsOV90VRjEyS5TACgg2qnreVqCIjPHhUK 9gLG1/wEcXy5Aw0EN2gwqhAMAMwdd1ckOErixPDojhNnl06SE2H22+slDhf99pj3 yHx5sHIdOHX79sFzxIMRJitDYMPj6NYK/aEoJguuqa6zZQ+iAFMBoHzWq6MSHvoP Ks4fdIRPyvMX86RA6dfSd7ZCLQI2wSbLaF6dfJgJCo1+Le3kXXn11JJPmxiO/Cqn S3wy9kJXtwh/CBdyorrWqULzBej5UxE5T7bxbrlLOCDaAadWoxTpj0BV89AHxstD qZSt90xkhkn4DIO9ZekX1KHTUPj1WV/cdlJPPT2N286Z4VeSWc39uK50T8X8dryD xUcwYc58yWb/Ffm7/ZFexwGq01uejaClcjrUGvC/RgBYK+X0iP1YTknbzSC0neSR BzZrM2w4DUUdD3yIsxx8Wy2O9vPJI8BD8KVbGI2Ou1WMuF040zT9fBdXQ6MdGGze MyEstSr/POGxKUAYEY18hKcKctaGxAMZyAcpesqVDNmWn6vQClCbAkbTCD1mpF1B n5x8vYlLIhkmuquiXsNV6UwybwACAgwAuMKxwz45b36AoTAOW12B4B1sm36qShSj TFipnrN/O7sV03CHdE0hXz1+zHtJUwm+Xt8WYEvrrx3hVT+dKp41HDPAQEkuWCdr EjTiQvN2u37BHhIPpExCjjTzt8UvuhzXAU9+gZVZXzuvFVosqfx7LsngC2NOKGvu BLJkrLh47fJhDrYYu5Vq5myUqARTiUoA/88kJYSDr8lTdTKUoNc9IMsD5wZTRX2s 3NUnS+Wql2yHmY3txF6/LGQO3SYOTBze8rGAxiKEnD7XTKY+6U0X2hSIFMnl9nRP HUkl+/hyyns/b4SpsdM1lv1Sfl9BOCP6ygLV+T6kbThLnCHRtRFQCUDd2R8a3PiH VMetJrYhj6AAIE42Gmuqibeqw1WlvFnzXrwdGHlEWxEZ+Scj+y2wpAuCCABAAPhQ a7t8aIrBW+cnI62FqAmPlPu9xK6pOD5NZ/s3eoNiXxzcbYCxweDv7ypGyYOtSB4a es6fdgCcNWSUZAuBP2OQv+/NGnCyHLmUiQA/AwUYN2gwqmXzgMnytxK0EQJHQQCf Rzkk500k4fkaQiM05xFdxnWaU84AnRbIys57P0JveKdE6Gfa8XjrMHOS =lYII -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- -- ------------------------------------------------------------ Infinity Software nicks(a)chesco.com http://www.chesco.com/~nicks -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: PGPfreeware 5.0 for non-commercial use <http://www.pgp.com> mQGiBDdoMKoRBADcw8/3TTYvqLt9X2QXixoLX53ogj7gz3SbiWG49GBniARxq8Xd lRnq3Qq+k4vxsCVCtYRHidbXsRK9BkRgiVfvcJy/JpL/h1V2H2OSrc1Ks0KjUX2v Gb5AWPAg5WVcrNb2xUY5dcjmCRGUi/iXKtwnc+SmhVlM+dzDrbUtw3G9mwCg/4k5 5gkSJnmYEAdaN173UaYD+1cD/3YX/jrVfLD6N6zgFyMxmF/VeL0M1LgqLSw6PfM1 zVyMEHeOZzctgKic9re+r8HQa48b3cUR3zCV/ckt9RHDVqR6qCXmdsJtWKbHP0s+ 8LieGnws9L8nq2lmqDN4PYhHHm7BGToNrZrpdZWGO3vAq8FMiKUPp9nJY3rcTQs5 y6R6A/91Z7YdhpOdiQy2IMZZhLmbSIQ53NYU7C48+RdEUAIkW5l0rtfKA2J5jDi/ s5Q64F04tXkI6CnD8+ljIJ+xEUj8kLnBixeCFoHAprsnM9sGj/+UxRvD2jcQ7ZzH itrtQfU2erwo79imWo7uOERBako6JNv+PG6tqVfyWVbY8ZWXW7QjbmljaG9sYXMg c3RyYXVzcyA8bmNzQGFsdW0ubWl0LmVkdT6JAEsEEBECAAsFAjdoMKoECwMBAgAK CRBl84DJ8rcStH4gAJ4wbHWNlme4+yWVsOV90VRjEyS5TACgg2qnreVqCIjPHhUK 9gLG1/wEcXy5Aw0EN2gwqhAMAMwdd1ckOErixPDojhNnl06SE2H22+slDhf99pj3 yHx5sHIdOHX79sFzxIMRJitDYMPj6NYK/aEoJguuqa6zZQ+iAFMBoHzWq6MSHvoP Ks4fdIRPyvMX86RA6dfSd7ZCLQI2wSbLaF6dfJgJCo1+Le3kXXn11JJPmxiO/Cqn S3wy9kJXtwh/CBdyorrWqULzBej5UxE5T7bxbrlLOCDaAadWoxTpj0BV89AHxstD qZSt90xkhkn4DIO9ZekX1KHTUPj1WV/cdlJPPT2N286Z4VeSWc39uK50T8X8dryD xUcwYc58yWb/Ffm7/ZFexwGq01uejaClcjrUGvC/RgBYK+X0iP1YTknbzSC0neSR BzZrM2w4DUUdD3yIsxx8Wy2O9vPJI8BD8KVbGI2Ou1WMuF040zT9fBdXQ6MdGGze MyEstSr/POGxKUAYEY18hKcKctaGxAMZyAcpesqVDNmWn6vQClCbAkbTCD1mpF1B n5x8vYlLIhkmuquiXsNV6UwybwACAgwAuMKxwz45b36AoTAOW12B4B1sm36qShSj TFipnrN/O7sV03CHdE0hXz1+zHtJUwm+Xt8WYEvrrx3hVT+dKp41HDPAQEkuWCdr EjTiQvN2u37BHhIPpExCjjTzt8UvuhzXAU9+gZVZXzuvFVosqfx7LsngC2NOKGvu BLJkrLh47fJhDrYYu5Vq5myUqARTiUoA/88kJYSDr8lTdTKUoNc9IMsD5wZTRX2s 3NUnS+Wql2yHmY3txF6/LGQO3SYOTBze8rGAxiKEnD7XTKY+6U0X2hSIFMnl9nRP HUkl+/hyyns/b4SpsdM1lv1Sfl9BOCP6ygLV+T6kbThLnCHRtRFQCUDd2R8a3PiH VMetJrYhj6AAIE42Gmuqibeqw1WlvFnzXrwdGHlEWxEZ+Scj+y2wpAuCCABAAPhQ a7t8aIrBW+cnI62FqAmPlPu9xK6pOD5NZ/s3eoNiXxzcbYCxweDv7ypGyYOtSB4a es6fdgCcNWSUZAuBP2OQv+/NGnCyHLmUiQA/AwUYN2gwqmXzgMnytxK0EQJHQQCf Rzkk500k4fkaQiM05xFdxnWaU84AnRbIys57P0JveKdE6Gfa8XjrMHOS =lYII -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

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last day of the 2nd millennium
by Alex LIVINGSTON Dec. 31, 2000

Dec. 31, 2000

Today (Sunday, 2000-12-31) is the last day of the the 2nd Gregorian millennium, the 20th Gregorian century, the 200th Gregorian decade, and the 2000th Gregorian year. Happy 3rd millennium! Sorry if this is off topic for the tz discussion list, but for those on it who promote "origin zero", what do you say to the following? Claiming that the epoch of the Gregorian calendar was at the beginning of a year "0" immediately before the year 1 is to fly in the face not only of history but also of the thriving and abundantly tested convention of numbering "1" the first in a sequence of discrete entites, whether periods of time or pages of a newspaper. Outside digital electronics and computing, where the technology justifies them, exceptions to this convention are extremely rare and often questionable. The distinction between numbering the items in a sequence and specifying a quantity, such as the number of billiard balls on a table or the length of a piece of string, is crucial: it has been unavoidable so far in human history and there are no signs that this is about to change. The years of the Gregorian calendar comprise such a sequence: the numbers they are labelled with apply to discrete periods of a whole year, not to a continuum of instants, as for times of day. Their numbering is not, should not, and should not have been, an exception to the rule. Dionysius Exiguus did the right thing (and I'm sure he did have a "concept of zero"). What do you want to call the number-one bestseller and the number-one hit single, and what about the expressions "numero uno", "A1", and even "ace"? How do you want to number children in a family ("my number-0 son"?), lines and verses of a poem or song, volumes of a book, places in a race (0, 1, and 2?), lanes in a swimming pool, houses in a street, faces on dice, cylinders in an engine (think of firing order), weeks of a semester or term and, most glaringly, days of a month and months of a year? Allowing an exceptional "origin zero" for the discrete whole-year periods of a calendar is to defy the KISS principal. In fact, I think the term "origin" is being abused in such a case anyway: in mathematics it applies to the measurement of quantities, not to the numbering of sequences. I've heard this year being referred to as mathematically the last of the old millennium, but emotionally the first of the new. Well, I hope I'm helping to make it emotionally what it is mathematically. _______________ Alex LIVINGSTON Macintosh and Lotus Notes Support / Information Technology (IT) Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM) UNSW SYDNEY NSW 2052 / Australia Facsimile: +61 2 9931-9349 / Telephone: +61 2 9931-9264 Time : UTC+11---[last Mar. Sun.---UTC+10---[last Aug. Sun.---UTC+11--- At end of today, Sunday, December 31, time since epoch (1-1-1 at 00:00:00) = 730485 days = 2000.00000000 average Gregorian years time until 3rd millennium, 21st century, 201st decade, 2001st year = 0 days = .00000000 average Gregorian years

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IERS message No. 0
by IERS Central Bureau Dec. 29, 2000

Dec. 29, 2000

**************************************************************************** * IERS Message No. 0 December, 29 2000 **************************************************************************** * Dear IERS contributors and users As most of you have probably already heard, the International Earth Rotation Service continues its operation from January 1, 2001 onwards with a new structure. This new structure is the result of an extended discussion process for the renewal of the service that had started already in 1996 with a workshop in Paris, resulted in a Call for Participation for the new IERS in 1999 and culminated eventually in the final voting for the composition of the new Directing Board at the 32nd meeting of the old Directing Board in San Francisco in December 2000. After a successful period of more than 10 years of the old IERS, as departing chairman of the old Directing Board I would like to wholeheartedly thank all members of the old Directing Board and the old Central Bureau, but also all contributing individuals and organisations for their untiring efforts carrying out daily routines and also for their support of the planning and decision-taking for renewing the service. I wish the new chairman Jan Vondrak, the new Directing Board and the new Central Bureau the very best success with steering the new IERS and all IERS contributors and users a prosperous and happy year 2001! Sincerely, Christoph Reigber (Chairman of the IERS Directing Board until Dec. 31, 2000) P.S. You will soon receive email information on the new structure of the service from the new Central Bureau. A pre-glance you can take at the homepage of the new IERS at http://www.iers.org/

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Re: why the different MST7MDT zoneinfo files?
by Paul Eggert Dec. 25, 2000

Dec. 25, 2000

> Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2000 10:41:17 -0500 > From: Ben Collins <bcollins(a)debian.org> > > I'm not too familiar with zoneinfo symantics, but I need to follow up on > a Debian bug report. A user noticed these different MST7MDT zoneinfo > files, and that the SystemV ones have the incorrect DST. Why are they > different? Shouldn't the all be the same? > > f1937d0d3ed3a6cf9ca44e04cb4d8509 /usr/share/zoneinfo/MST7MDT > f1937d0d3ed3a6cf9ca44e04cb4d8509 /usr/share/zoneinfo/posix/MST7MDT > 1ac36e9eb32fbeb87af9921ba5b58850 /usr/share/zoneinfo/posix/SystemV/MST7MDT > 65cbdc206e84bf90b10fabb30c13e9b1 /usr/share/zoneinfo/right/MST7MDT > b4885b6a643d6a8c6e5e1f7de5180650 /usr/share/zoneinfo/right/SystemV/MST7MDT > 1ac36e9eb32fbeb87af9921ba5b58850 /usr/share/zoneinfo/SystemV/MST7MDT The SystemV stuff is for compatibility with ancient hosts, none of which must be operating any more, as they mishandle US daylight saving time past 1987. We should obsolete those entries, for the same reason that US/Pacific-PET was removed in 1994: they are far more likely to cause problems than to solve them. The "posix" vs "right" difference is for leap second support. "posix" ignores leap seconds, whereas "right" does not. I suppose we shouldn't just remove the SystemV stuff right away, as there might be some hosts that (mistakenly) use it. But my next proposed patch can replace it with this for now: Link America/Halifax SystemV/AST4ADT Link America/New_York SystemV/EST5EDT Link America/Chicago SystemV/CST6CDT Link America/Denver SystemV/MST7MDT Link America/Los_Angeles SystemV/PST8PDT Link America/Anchorage SystemV/YST9YDT Link America/Puerto_Rico SystemV/AST4 Link America/Indianapolis SystemV/EST5 Link America/Regina SystemV/CST6 Link America/Phoenix SystemV/MST7 Link Pacific/Pitcairn SystemV/PST8 Link Pacific/Gambier SystemV/YST9 Link America/Honolulu SystemV/HST10

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[rfc] why the different MST7MDT zoneinfo files?
by Ben Collins Dec. 24, 2000

Dec. 24, 2000

I'm not too familiar with zoneinfo symantics, but I need to follow up on a Debian bug report. A user noticed these different MST7MDT zoneinfo files, and that the SystemV ones have the incorrect DST. Why are they different? Shouldn't the all be the same? f1937d0d3ed3a6cf9ca44e04cb4d8509 /usr/share/zoneinfo/MST7MDT f1937d0d3ed3a6cf9ca44e04cb4d8509 /usr/share/zoneinfo/posix/MST7MDT 1ac36e9eb32fbeb87af9921ba5b58850 /usr/share/zoneinfo/posix/SystemV/MST7MDT 65cbdc206e84bf90b10fabb30c13e9b1 /usr/share/zoneinfo/right/MST7MDT b4885b6a643d6a8c6e5e1f7de5180650 /usr/share/zoneinfo/right/SystemV/MST7MDT 1ac36e9eb32fbeb87af9921ba5b58850 /usr/share/zoneinfo/SystemV/MST7MDT Thanks, and happy holidays, Ben -- -----------=======-=-======-=========-----------=====------------=-=------ / Ben Collins -- ...on that fantastic voyage... -- Debian GNU/Linux \ ` bcollins(a)debian.org -- bcollins(a)openldap.org -- bcollins(a)linux.com ' `---=========------=======-------------=-=-----=-===-======-------=--=---'

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[patch] timezone/zdump.c: combine strings for easier localization
by Ben Collins Dec. 24, 2000

Dec. 24, 2000

(From the Debian bug report) Please apply this (untested) patch so that I can use the correct form of "standard output" in the Finnish message catalog. ("Standard output" alone would be "vakiotuloste" but when used as an object, it must become "vakiotulostetta".) (end bug report) 2000-12-24 Ben Collins <bcollins(a)debian.org> * timezone/zdump.c: Combine strings so that localization is a better. Patch from Kalle Olavi Niemitalo <tosi(a)ees2.oulu.fi> -- -----------=======-=-======-=========-----------=====------------=-=------ / Ben Collins -- ...on that fantastic voyage... -- Debian GNU/Linux \ ` bcollins(a)debian.org -- bcollins(a)openldap.org -- bcollins(a)linux.com ' `---=========------=======-------------=-=-----=-===-======-------=--=---'

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tzcode2000h.tar.gz and tzdata2000h.tar.gz
by Olson, Arthur David (NCI) Dec. 22, 2000

Dec. 22, 2000

The files ftp://elsie.nci.nih.gov/pub/tzcode2000h.tar.gz and ftp://elsie.nci.nih.gov/pub/tzdata2000h.tar.gz are now available. These include the changes circulated by Paul Eggert to the time zone mailing last week, along with one typo fix in the "art" file. With providence, this is the last update of the millenium. --ado

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Savings
by Oscar van Vlijmen Dec. 22, 2000

Dec. 22, 2000

The dictionary says "daylight saving time" (Webster). Several files in the TZ distribution still have "savings" for our daylight! Data folder: asia: 10x australasia: 6x europe: 2x northamerica: 4x southamerica: 1x Code folder: date.c: 1x usno1995, 1997, 1998: each 1x, but one should leave "originals" as is. I cannot produce a diff file, so I hope I may leave this to someone who likes to dot i's. Regards, Oscar van Vlijmen 2000-12-22

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