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diff --git a/contrib/tzdata/README b/contrib/tzdata/README new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8a09aa2 --- /dev/null +++ b/contrib/tzdata/README @@ -0,0 +1,71 @@ +README for the tz distribution + +"What time is it?" -- Richard Deacon as The King +"Any time you want it to be." -- Frank Baxter as The Scientist + (from the Bell System film "About Time") + +The Time Zone Database (often called tz or zoneinfo) contains code and +data that represent the history of local time for many representative +locations around the globe. It is updated periodically to reflect +changes made by political bodies to time zone boundaries, UTC offsets, +and daylight-saving rules. + +Here is a recipe for acquiring, building, installing, and testing the +tz distribution on a GNU/Linux or similar host. + +To acquire the distribution, run the following shell commands: + + mkdir tz + cd tz + wget --retr-symlinks 'ftp://ftp.iana.org/tz/tz*-latest.tar.gz' + gzip -dc tzcode-latest.tar.gz | tar -xf - + gzip -dc tzdata-latest.tar.gz | tar -xf - + +Alternatively, the following shell commands acquire the same +distribution, with extra data useful for regression testing: + + wget --retr-symlinks 'ftp://ftp.iana.org/tz/tzdb-latest.tar.lz' + lzip -dc tzdb-latest.tar.lz | tar -xf - + +Be sure to read the comments in "Makefile" and make any changes needed +to make things right for your system, especially if you are using some +platform other than GNU/Linux. Then run the following commands, +substituting your desired installation directory for "$HOME/tzdir": + + make TOPDIR=$HOME/tzdir install + $HOME/tzdir/etc/zdump -v America/Los_Angeles + +Historical local time information has been included here to: + +* provide a compendium of data about the history of civil time + that is useful even if not 100% accurate; + +* give an idea of the variety of local time rules that have + existed in the past and thus an idea of the variety that may be + expected in the future; + +* provide a test of the generality of the local time rule description + system. + +The information in the time zone data files is by no means authoritative; +fixes and enhancements are welcome. Please see the file CONTRIBUTING +for details. + +Thanks to these Time Zone Caballeros who've made major contributions to the +time conversion package: Keith Bostic; Bob Devine; Paul Eggert; Robert Elz; +Guy Harris; Mark Horton; John Mackin; and Bradley White. Thanks also to +Michael Bloom, Art Neilson, Stephen Prince, John Sovereign, and Frank Wales +for testing work, and to Gwillim Law for checking local mean time data. +Thanks in particular to Arthur David Olson, the project's founder and first +maintainer, to whom the time zone community owes the greatest debt of all. +None of them are responsible for remaining errors. + +Look in <ftp://ftp.iana.org/tz/releases/> for updated versions of these files. + +Please send comments or information to tz@iana.org. + +----- + +This file is in the public domain, so clarified as of 2009-05-17 by +Arthur David Olson. The other files in this distribution are either +public domain or BSD licensed; see the file LICENSE for details. |