Dear
Sirs,
I’d like to
give you my compliments for your enormous work in the time-zone file of the
whole world.
I am
working on this file to obtain a second file for one of mine specific
applications.
Unfortunately I have found some little errors
or I think that these are some errors.
I’d like to
explain these points.
First of
all
From a lot
of specialist books (for example Le
Corre’s book or Gabriel’s book) I receive the information that in France, in the
year 1943, and precisely from October 4, there was a double daylight saving time. This fact
is not present in your database as you can see lower:
# France
#
# Shanks seems to use `24:00'
ambiguously; we resolve it with Whitman.
# Rule NAME
FROM
TO
TYPE
IN
ON
AT
SAVE
LETTER/S
Rule France
1916
only
-
Jun
14
23:00s
1:00
S
Rule France
1916
1919
-
Oct
Sun>=1
23:00s
0
-
Rule France
1917
only
-
Mar
24
23:00s
1:00
S
Rule France
1918
only
-
Mar 9
23:00s
1:00
S
Rule France
1919
only
-
Mar 1
23:00s
1:00
S
Rule France
1920
only
-
Feb
14
23:00s
1:00
S
Rule France
1920
only
-
Oct
23
23:00s
0
-
Rule France
1921
only
-
Mar
14
23:00s
1:00
S
Rule France
1921
only
-
Oct
25
23:00s
0
-
Rule France
1922
only
-
Mar
25
23:00s
1:00
S
# DSH writes that a law of
1923-05-24 specified 3rd Sat in Apr at 23:00 to 1st
# Sat in Oct at 24:00; and that
in 1930, because of Easter, the transitions
# were Apr 12 and Oct 5. Go with Shanks.
Rule France
1922
1938
-
Oct
Sat>=1
23:00s
0
-
Rule France
1923
only
-
May
26
23:00s
1:00
S
Rule France
1924
only
-
Mar
29
23:00s
1:00
S
Rule France
1925
only
-
Apr
4
23:00s
1:00
S
Rule France
1926
only
-
Apr
17
23:00s
1:00
S
Rule France
1927
only
-
Apr
9
23:00s
1:00
S
Rule France
1928
only
-
Apr
14
23:00s
1:00
S
Rule France
1929
only
-
Apr
20
23:00s
1:00
S
Rule France
1930
only
-
Apr
12
23:00s
1:00
S
Rule France
1931
only
-
Apr
18
23:00s
1:00
S
Rule France
1932
only
-
Apr
2
23:00s
1:00
S
Rule France
1933
only
-
Mar
25
23:00s
1:00
S
Rule France
1934
only
-
Apr
7
23:00s
1:00
S
Rule France
1935
only
-
Mar
30
23:00s
1:00
S
Rule France
1936
only
-
Apr
18
23:00s
1:00
S
Rule France
1937
only
-
Apr
3
23:00s
1:00
S
Rule France
1938
only
-
Mar
26
23:00s
1:00
S
Rule France
1939
only
-
Apr
15
23:00s
1:00
S
Rule France
1939
only
-
Nov
18
23:00s
0
-
Rule France
1940
only
-
Feb
25
2:00
1:00
S
# The French rules for
1941-1944 were not used in Paris,
# but were used in other places
(e.g. Monaco).
Rule France
1941
only
-
May 5
0:00
2:00
M # Midsummer
# Shanks says this transition
occurred at Oct 6 1:00,
# but go with
Denis.Excoffier@ens.fr (1997-12-12),
# who quotes the Ephemerides
Astronomiques for 1998 from Bureau des Longitudes
# as saying 5/10/41
22hUT.
Rule France
1941
only
-
Oct
6
0:00
1:00
S
Rule France
1942
only
-
Mar 9
0:00
2:00
M
Rule France
1942
only
-
Nov 2
3:00
1:00
S
Rule France
1943
only
-
Mar
29
2:00
2:00
M
Rule France
1943
only
-
Oct
4
3:00
1:00
S
Rule France
1944
only
-
Apr
3
2:00
2:00
M
Rule France
1944
only
-
Oct
8
1:00
1:00
S
Rule France
1945
only
-
Apr
2
2:00
2:00
M
Rule France
1945
only
-
Sep
16
3:00 0
-
# Shanks gives Mar 28 2:00 and
Sep 26 3:00;
# go with Excoffier's 28/3/76
0hUT and 25/9/76 23hUT.
Rule France
1976
only
-
Mar
28
1:00
1:00
S
Rule France
1976
only
-
Sep
26
1:00 0
-
# Shanks gives 0:09 for Paris
Mean Time, and Whitman gives 0:09:05,
# but Howse quotes the actual
French legislation as saying 0:09:21.
# Go with Howse. Howse writes that the time in France was
officially based
# on PMT-0:09:21 until
1978-08-09, when the time base finally switched to UTC.
# Zone NAME
GMTOFF
RULES
FORMAT
[UNTIL]
Zone
Europe/Paris
0:09:21 - LMT
1891 Mar 15
0:01
0:09:21
-
PMT
1911 Mar 11 #
Paris Mean Time
# Shanks gives 1940 Jun 14
0:00; go with Excoffier's 14/6/40 22hUT.
0:00
France
WE%sT
1940 Jun 14 23:00
1:00
C-Eur
CE%sT
1944 Aug 25
0:00
France
WE%sT
1945 Sep 16
3:00
1:00
France
CE%sT
1977
1:00
EU
CE%sT
The second
fact
In Italy,
in 1944, there was a double situation: in the northern cities of the Gothic line
(around Bologna) daylight saving time was excluded on October 2. Instead, in the
southern cities of Gothic line, this daylight saving time, was excluded on
September 17. This historic reference has been proven by the Gazzetta Ufficiale
(Official Government Journal). But this reference is not in your
database.
The third
fact
In Italy,
after 1866, the whole nation was divided in three parts: the continental part,
the Sicily part and the Sardinia part, with three different time zones. You can
read about it in the Regio Decreto (king decree) number 3224 in the year 1866.
But even this aspect is not present in your work.
Now I am
asking myself: maybe I have not read well or these notices could have beeen left
out by you?
But, if you
have forgotten these items, it is even possible that there are many others items
left out?
Please, I
have another little query for you: do you know a software or a DLL (library)
that includes all the correct world time-zones? Or, is there, on the web, a more
recent release or your database with these corrections about the examples that I
have made before?
Excuse me
for disturbing you and I send you many regards and a Merry Christmas and a Happy
New Year
Ciro Discepolo