Okay, that was much better. It is still complicated matter, but at least it was so clear that I got encouraged to make another suggestion for how to formulate it. I thought that the essence of "what many people expect" got lost in the examples. How about this: # We use POSIX-style signs in the Zone names and the output abbreviations, # even though this is the opposite of what many people expect. # POSIX has positive signs west of Greenwich, while most people expect # positive signs east of Greenwich. For example, TZ='Etc/GMT+4' corresponds # to 4 hours behind UTC (i.e. west of Greenwich) which many people would # expect to see as GMT-4. In Draft 5 of the next version of POSIX, the angle # bracket notation (which is not yet supported by the tz code) allows for # TZ='<GMT-4>+4'; if you also want abbreviations that conform to ISO 8601 # you can use TZ='<-0400>+4'. Thus the expected offset is kept within the # angle bracket (and not used for calculation) while the POSIX sign is kept # outside the angle bracked (and used for calculation). Regards, Jesper Nørgaard Welen Email: jnorgard@Prodigy.Net.mx Programador/Analista CIMMYT - Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo Dirección: CIMMYT Int. c/o Jesper Nørgaard Km. 45, Carretera México-Veracruz El Batán Texcoco, Edo. de México CP 56130 MEXICO Tel.: +52 (5) 58-04-20-04 ext. 1374 Fax: +52 (5) 58-04-75-58 Tel. Casa: 53-10-05-95 ó 53-10-97-78 CIMMYT home page: http://cimmyt.cgiar.org Check out my free program World Time Explorer: http://timezone50.homepage.com ---------- From: Paul Eggert[SMTP:eggert@twinsun.com] Sent: Jueves 15 de Febrero de 2001 11:28 To: jnorgard@Prodigy.Net.mx Cc: tz@elsie.nci.nih.gov Subject: Re: etcetera patch
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 22:21:35 -0600 From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Jesper_N=F8rgaard?= <jnorgard@Prodigy.Net.mx> Resent-From: tz@elsie.nci.nih.gov
"internal-style signedness" and "zic style"?? Reading the below utterings just makes me bounce of the wall and scratch my head (but not at the same time :-).
OK, here's a draft rewording that I hope doesn't leave as many marks on your wall (and your head :-). # We use POSIX-style signs in the Zone names and the output abbreviations, # even though this is the opposite of what many people expect. # For example, TZ='Etc/GMT+4' corresponds to 4 hours behind UTC # (i.e. west of Greenwich); it is equivalent to TZ='GMT+4', # except that it uses the abbreviation "GMT+4" # whereas TZ='GMT+4' uses the misleading abbreviation "GMT". # TZ='Etc/GMT+4' is equivalent to the TZ='<GMT+4>+4' of Draft 5 of the next # version of POSIX, but the angle-bracket notation is not yet # supported by the tz code. With the Draft 5 notation, people who # prefer the traditional sign in abbreviations (where positive numbers # are east of Greenwich) can use TZ='<GMT-4>+4'; if they also want # abbreviations that conform to ISO 8601 they can use TZ='<-0400>+4'.