From: Robert Elz <kre@munnari.OZ.AU> Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2001 17:36:47 +0700
about the only thing I can see worth doing to the code/data might be to provide an option (set via an env var, or some other way - perhaps even something as crude as the perms on the tzdata file being used) which would cause the tz abbreviations to be always returned as a string like "+1000" (ie: the code does an sprintf of the offset, and that is what is returned as the abbreviation, rather than the EST thing).
OK, how about this idea? If TZ='Australia/Sydney:' then use numeric abbreviations. The basic idea is to append a suffix that cannot possibly be part of a portable POSIX file name. Later on we could add other suffixes (perhaps after the ':') for other extensions. The latest POSIX draft adds support for numeric abbreviations. For example, TZ='<+1000>-10<+1100>,M10.5.0,M3.5.0/3' would be appropriate for those in Sydney who want to use next-generation POSIX-style TZ strings that generate "+1000" instead of "EST". Since POSIX is adding support for "+1000", it might be nice if the Olson extension added similar support.