I think everybody could be satisfied by a small semantic redefinition of the meaning of Link records. The current practice seems to be: 1. Link records in the main files indicate that a given zone's data are also used for an area in another country. Example in file europe Link Europe/Belgrade Europe/Ljubljana # Slovenia Link Europe/Belgrade Europe/Podgorica # Montenegro Link Europe/Belgrade Europe/Sarajevo # Bosnia and Herzegovina Link Europe/Belgrade Europe/Skopje # North Macedonia Link Europe/Belgrade Europe/Zagreb # Croatia Example in file Africa Link Africa/Abidjan Africa/Bamako # Mali Link Africa/Abidjan Africa/Banjul # Gambia Link Africa/Abidjan Africa/Conakry # Guinea Link Africa/Abidjan Africa/Dakar # Senegal Link Africa/Abidjan Africa/Freetown # Sierra Leone Link Africa/Abidjan Africa/Lome # Togo Link Africa/Abidjan Africa/Nouakchott # Mauritania Link Africa/Abidjan Africa/Ouagadougou # Burkina Faso Link Africa/Abidjan Atlantic/St_Helena # St Helena 2. Link records in file backward # This file provides links between current names for timezones # and their old names. Many names changed in late 1993. ... Link Asia/Kolkata Asia/Calcutta ... If the meaning of Link records in the main files were expanded to also indicate alternative zone names, then an entry in file europe # alternative zone name Europe/Kyiv Link Europe/Kiev Europe/Kyiv would satisfy the Ukrainian requests. Such a link results automatically in the creation of a zoneinfo file Europe/Kyiv which is identical to Europe/Kiev On 12.02.21 11:14, Paul Eggert wrote:
On 2/11/21 4:20 PM, Brian Park wrote:
I don't still don't understand why there is reluctance to add LINK entries. Wouldn't that resolve most of these requests?
We'd keep getting requests, though, if word got out that one could plant political flags into tzdb simply by asking. Suppose North Korea started calling Seoul "Kim Il-sung City" on the grounds that it's their city and they can call it what they want? And that is not a fanciful supposition: North Koreans seriously suggested doing exactly that in the 1990s after Kim Il-sung died.
At some point we need to say that tzdb is about civil time, not about settling or documenting other political disputes. We might as well say it now rather than later.