On Sun, 6 Jun 2021 at 19:59, Paul Eggert <eggert@cs.ucla.edu> wrote:
If that process is too much trouble for downstream users, we can arrange to generate the alternate source upstream. For example, we could ship a tarball with an altered tzdata.zi file (this is what Tom suggested).
As noted previously, there are two main groups in the debate - minimal and maximal. 1) The minimal group believe TZDB should only focus on data after 1970 and use the minimum set of IDs necessary to achieve that (considering the ID name to have no meaning or value pre-1970). 2) The maximal group believe TZDB should place greater value on pre-1970 data and the name of the ID (considering that governmental authorities are an important part of time-keeping). It is possible to automatically derive the data for group 1 from the data for group 2. The other way around is not possible. I'm suggesting that the default data in the repo is for group 2 with a way to derive group 1. This could result in two separate downloadable tarballs. I imagine the tasks would be: - take the relevant parts of the `backzone` data and put it back in the main files (Canada/Montreal would not be put back for example) - add a new `idmerge` file identifying IDs that are the same post-1970 and which ID should be the one to have its history retained - alter the makefile to have a "minimal" option to use the new `idmerge` file An alternative approach that avoids the `idmerge` file would be for the "minimal" option to simply strip all pre-1970 data Stephen