On 6/9/21 9:43 AM, Neil Fuller wrote:
Because Android typically doesn't get to update code for TZDB updates, only data, it will stick with the "fat" format for existing devices.
I can understand Android doing that, given old apps that read TZif files directly and that predate RFC 8536 or have bugs related to RFC 8536. I expect it'll take many years for RFC 8536 to proliferate.
e.g. if two projects want country-specific zone IDs, and they don't come from TZDB, then there's a risk of one of them "inventing" (should the need arise) Europe/Glasgow as "the zone for Scotland", and another inventing Europe/Edinburgh to fill the same role.
Yes, that's very much a concern. And it's not just Scotland: it could happen with the Oduduwa Republic or any number of other plausible future countries created by political disputes. This is a primary motivation for the guidelines not requiring a separate Zone per country.