Re: [tz] IANA timezone database - request to add Omaha, Nebraska
On 7/26/22 13:15, John Hawkinson wrote:
If it means to enumerate only Zones and omit Links, which is what I think you mean, then readlink will work only if Links are implemented via symbolic links. Although Debian and Red Hat based systems do that, the default TZDB installation does not (it uses hard links), and Alpine, macOS, NetBSD, OpenBSD, OpenSUSE etc. use the default either because it is the default or because it is a bit more efficient.
You sure?
My MacOS 12.5 laptop uses a symlink for /etc/localtime
Oh, I was referring to links like these on Ubuntu 22.04: $ ls -l /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Belfast lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 Mar 21 11:29 /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Belfast -> London I was not talking about /etc/localtime, which is a different kettle of fish. PS. Based on my misreading of a quick Google search I said in that quote above that macOS uses hard links for aliases like Europe/Belfast. However, Guy just reported[1] that current Ventura beta uses copies, just like FreeBSD does. Apologies for the error. [1] https://mm.icann.org/pipermail/tz/2022-July/031706.html
On Jul 26, 2022, at 1:32 PM, Paul Eggert via tz <tz@iana.org> wrote:
PS. Based on my misreading of a quick Google search I said in that quote above that macOS uses hard links for aliases like Europe/Belfast. However, Guy just reported[1] that current Ventura beta uses copies
I ran the ls command on my Big Sur machine, not on my Ventura beta VM. From some quick tests on my collection of macOS VMs, the change from links to copies appears to have occurred in High Sierra. I have some vague memory of this having been brought up on the list at some point.
Guy Harris wrote:
From some quick tests on my collection of macOS VMs, the change from links to copies appears to have occurred in High Sierra. I have some vague memory of this having been brought up on the list at some point.
I believe Deborah mentioned it had to do with tz files being distributed by an "over the air" mechanism which does not know how to handle links. https://mm.icann.org/pipermail/tz/2021-February/029825.html https://mm.icann.org/pipermail/tz/2021-February/029836.html
On Jul 26, 2022, at 4:06 PM, Steve Summit <scs@eskimo.com> wrote:
I believe Deborah mentioned it had to do with tz files being distributed by an "over the air" mechanism which does not know how to handle links.
I seem to remember that the new mechanism was added so that certain files can be updated "out of band" or whatever the right jargon would be for "not as part of a software update"; the main reason may have been for various files used by malware detection and the like, but given the well-known (at least to folks on this list!) propensity that countries and subregions of countries have for changing time offsets and time offset rules, the tzdb files are also something for which OTW/OTB/whatever updates are a Good Idea. I suspect software updates are distributed in the form of bundles (tarballs/paxballs/somethingorotherballs) that carry link information; perhaps the OOB update just says "here's a file, replace this" without any further information. (For what it's worth, currently, I don't think any notify(3) event is distributed for a tzdb update, so running programs don't see the update.)
participants (3)
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Guy Harris -
Paul Eggert -
scs＠eskimo.com