Re: [tz] Version in zoneinfo files?

Paul G wrote:

If not, I would like to suggest that a VERSION or METADATA file be added to the zoneinfo output.

Although there is a version number in those files, it's not what you're looking for: it's the version number of the zic format (a number that changes only very slowly), not the tzdata version number. There's no provision in the current zic format for storing an arbitrary tzdata version number like '2015g'. Perhaps we could add one, but there would be a downside: people might take strings like '2015g' too seriously, and assume that two files from different sources labeled '2015g' would be identical (an assumption that would not be true). This downside has made me reluctant to change the zic format in this area.