On 3 September 2013 09:15, Brian Inglis <Brian.Inglis@systematicsw.ab.ca> wrote:
On 2013-09-03 01:34, Paul Eggert wrote:
Link to America/Port_of_Spain instead of having a separate zone that differs only in LMT. Each LMT entry is just a placeholder for unavailable info, and by itself does not justify a separate zone. Using just one zone simplifies maintenance, makes the runtime a bit smaller, and can help simplify user selection of zones. * southamerica (America/Aruba): Likewise, for America/Curacao. * backward (America/Virgin): * northamerica (America/St_Barthelemy, America/Marigot):
Folks seem to have forgotten that initial LMT entries contain the Standard Time start date, as well as the prior GMTOFF based on longitude of that location.
While I agree that merging zones with different GMTOFF makes no significant difference, merging zones with different Standard Time start date loses useful historical data, unless the tzdb is seen mainly as a source of DST changes since 1970.
In the changes highlighted below, Standard Time start dates vary from 1890-1921, with some different dates in 1911-1912.
Zones should be merged only if all linked locations have the same Standard Time start date, if we wish to maintain the history of when Standard Time was established in each time zone.
Yes, unfortunately I agree with Brian. I note that the patch also changed the observable time-zone abbreviations (KMT/CMT etc). Again, while this might be invented data, through existence over a long period it has become undeletable. As such, most of this patch would need reverting :-( Stephen