On 2021-09-29 19:20:36 (+0800), Tony Finch via tz wrote:
I have identified two policy changes that caused this argument.
[...]
I think the way to fix this is to revert both policy changes, and revert all the timezone merges.
I agree with this. Moreover, I wonder if we should not also consider merging the contents of backzone back into the main data files. The backzone file was introduced in 2014 as a home for out-of-scope and/or poorly-sourced data. Instead of providing build options to increase the size of the tzdata distribution, I believe we should go the other way. Contemporary systems are by default "large". Developers working on smaller embedded devices are accustomed to making changes to reduce the footprint of the data/code they consume. Note that I am not suggesting that we step away from our long-standing policy that timestamps before 1970 are out of scope. My suggestion is that we gain nothing from putting out-of-scope data into a separate file. Our documentation of the policy suffices. Philip -- Philip Paeps Senior Reality Engineer Alternative Enterprises