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<!DOCTYPE html
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PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html>
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<head>
<title>Sources for Time Zone and Daylight Saving Time Data</title>
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<link rel="schema.DC" href="http://purl.org/DC/elements/1.1/">
<meta http-equiv="Content-type" content='text/html; charset="US-ASCII"'>
<meta name="DC.Creator" content="Eggert, Paul">
<meta name="DC.Contributor" content="Olson, Arthur David">
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<meta name="DC.Date" content="2007-12-26">
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<meta name="DC.Description"
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content="Sources of information about time zones and daylight saving time">
<meta name="DC.Identifier" content="http://www.twinsun.com/tz/tz-link.htm">
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<meta name="Keywords"
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content="database,daylight saving,DST,time zone,timezone,tz,zoneinfo">
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</head>
<body>
<h1>Sources for Time Zone and Daylight Saving Time Data</h1>
<address>
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%W%
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</address>
<p>
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This file is in the public domain, so clarified as of
2009-05-17 by Arthur David Olson.
</p>
<p>
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Please send corrections to this web page to the
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<a href="mailto:tz@elsie.nci.nih.gov">time zone mailing list</a>.</p>
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<h2>The <code>tz</code> database</h2>
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<p>
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The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain">public-domain</a>
time zone database contains code and data
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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
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to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_zone">time zone</a>
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boundaries, <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coordinated_Universal_Time"><abbr
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title="Coordinated Universal Time">UTC</abbr></a> offsets, and
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving">daylight-saving</a>
rules.
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This database (often called <code>zoneinfo</code> or <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TZ_database"><code>tz</code></a>)
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is used by several implementations,
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including
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<a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/libc/">the
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<abbr title="GNU's Not Unix">GNU</abbr>
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C Library</a> used in
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<a href="http://www.linux.org/"><abbr>GNU</abbr>/Linux</a>,
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<a href="http://www.freebsd.org/">FreeBSD</a>,
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<a href="http://netbsd.org/">NetBSD</a>,
<a href="http://openbsd.org/">OpenBSD</a>,
<a href="http://cygwin.com/">Cygwin</a>,
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<a href="http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/"><abbr
title="DJ's GNU Programming Platform">DJGPP</abbr></a>,
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<a href="http://ibm.com/aix">AIX</a>,
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<a href="http://www.apple.com/macosx/">Mac OS X</a>,
<a href="http://h71000.www7.hp.com/">OpenVMS</a>,
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<a href="http://oracle.com/database">Oracle Database</a>,
<a href="http://sun.com/software/solaris">Solaris</a>,
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<a href="http://h30097.www3.hp.com/">Tru64</a>, and
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<a href="http://sco.com/products/unixware">UnixWare</a>.</p>
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<p>
Each location in the database represents a national region where all
clocks keeping local time have agreed since 1970.
Locations are identified by continent or ocean and then by the name of
the location, which is typically the largest city within the region.
For example, <code>America/New_York</code>
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represents most of the <abbr title="United States">US</abbr> eastern time zone;
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<code>America/Phoenix</code> represents most of Arizona, which
uses mountain time without daylight saving time (<abbr
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title="daylight saving time">DST</abbr>);
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<code>America/Detroit</code> represents most of Michigan, which uses
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eastern time but with different <abbr>DST</abbr> rules in 1975;
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and other entries represent smaller regions like Starke County,
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Indiana, which switched from central to eastern time in 1991
and switched back in 2006.
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To use the database on an extended <a
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href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POSIX"><abbr
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title="Portable Operating System Interface">POSIX</abbr></a>
implementation set the <code>TZ</code> environment variable to
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the location's full name, e.g., <code>TZ="America/New_York"</code>.</p>
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<p>
In the <code>tz</code> database's
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<a href="ftp://elsie.nci.nih.gov/pub"><abbr
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title="File Transfer Protocol">FTP</abbr> distribution</a>
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the code is in the file <code>tzcode<var>C</var>.tar.gz</code>,
where <code><var>C</var></code> is the code's version;
similarly, the data are in <code>tzdata<var>D</var>.tar.gz</code>,
where <code><var>D</var></code> is the data's version.
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Each version is a four-digit year followed by lower-case letters
(a through z, then za through zz, then zza through zzz, and so on).
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The following <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_shell">shell</a> commands download
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these files to a <abbr>GNU</abbr>/Linux or similar host;
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see the downloaded
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<code>README</code> file for what to do next.</p>
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<pre style="margin-left: 2em"><code>mkdir tz
cd tz
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/wget/">wget</a> 'ftp://elsie.nci.nih.gov/pub/tz*.tar.gz'
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<a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/gzip/">gzip</a> -dc tzcode*.tar.gz | <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/tar/">tar</a> -xf -
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gzip -dc tzdata*.tar.gz | tar -xf -
</code></pre>
<p>
The code lets you compile the <code>tz</code> source files into
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machine-readable binary files, one for each location. It also lets
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you read a <code>tz</code> binary file and interpret time stamps for that
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location.</p>
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<p>
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The data are by no means authoritative. If you find errors, please
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send changes to the <a href="mailto:tz@elsie.nci.nih.gov">time zone
mailing list</a>. You can also <a
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href="http://news.gmane.org/gmane.comp.time.tz">browse recent
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messages</a> sent to the mailing list, <a
href="mailto:tz-request@elsie.nci.nih.gov">subscribe</a> to it,
retrieve the <a
href="ftp://elsie.nci.nih.gov/pub/tzarchive.gz">full archive of old
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messages</a> (in gzip compressed format), or retrieve <a
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href="ftp://munnari.oz.au/pub/oldtz">archived older versions of code
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and data</a>.</p>
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<p>
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The Web has several other sources for time zone and daylight saving time data.
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Here are some recent links that may be of interest.
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</p>
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<h2>Web pages using recent versions of the <code>tz</code> database</h2>
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<p>
These are listed roughly in ascending order of complexity and fanciness.
</p>
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<ul>
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<li>
<a href="http://permatime.com">
Permatime</a>
is a service for generating and viewing links that refer to a
particular point in time and can be displayed in multiple timezones.
It uses the ruby tzinfo gem.
(From Tim Diggins, 2009-11-03.)
</li>
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<li><a href="http://twiki.org/cgi-bin/xtra/tzdatepick.html">Date and Time Gateway</a>
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lets you see the <code>TZ</code> values directly.</li>
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<li><a
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href="http://convertit.com/Go/ConvertIt/World_Time/Current_Time.ASP">Current
Time in 1000 Places</a> uses descriptions of the values.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.timezoneconverter.com/">Time Zone Converter</a>
uses a pulldown menu.</li>
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<li><a href="http://home.tiscali.nl/~t876506/TZworld.html">Complete
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timezone information for all countries</a> displays tables of DST rules.
<li><a href="http://timeanddate.com/worldclock/">The World Clock -
Time Zones</a> lets you sort zone names and convert times.</li>
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<li><a href="http://daylight-savings-time.info/">Graphical Display of
Time Zones and Daylight Saving Times</a> shows a graph of time
difference versus time for any pair of locations.</li>
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<li>The <a href="http://worldtimeengine.com/">World Time Engine</a>
also contains data about time zone boundaries; it supports queries via place
names and shows location maps.</li>
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<li><a href="http://simpletimerclocks.mozdev.org/">Simple Timer + Clocks</a>
is a Firefox add-on which uses a timezone data file generated from the
tz data files.</li>
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</ul>
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<h2>Other time zone database formats</h2>
<ul>
<li>The <a href="ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc2445.txt">
Internet Calendaring and Scheduling Core Object Specification
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(iCalendar)</a>, Internet <abbr title="Request For
Comments">RFC</abbr> 2445, published by the (now-concluded) <a
href="http://ietf.org/html.charters/OLD/calsch-charter.html"><abbr
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title="Internet Engineering Task Force">IETF</abbr>
Calendaring and Scheduling Working Group (<abbr
title="Calendaring and Scheduling Working Group">calsch</abbr>)</a>
covers time zone
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data; see its VTIMEZONE calendar component.
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The <a href="http://calconnect.org/">Calendaring and Scheduling
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Consortium</a> is promoting further work in this area. <a
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href="http://calconnect.org/publications/icalendartimezoneproblemsandrecommendationsv1.0.pdf">iCalendar
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TIMEZONE Problems and Recommendations</a> offers guidelines and
recommendations for the use of VTIMEZONE and <code>tz</code>.</li>
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<li><a href="http://calconnect.org/dstlinks.shtml">Extended Daylight
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Saving Time Links, Advisories and Changes</a> lists vendor material on recent
daylight saving time changes.</li>
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<li><a
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href="http://calconnect.org/publications/timezoneregistryandservicerecommendationsv1.0.pdf">Timezone
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Registry and Service Recommendations</a> discusses a
strategy for defining and deploying a time zone
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registration process that would establish unique names for each
version of each <code>tz</code> zone, along with a polygonal
representation of the geographical area corresponding to the
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zone.</li>
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<li>The <a
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href="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-rdf-calendar/">www-rdf-calendar</a>
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list discusses <a
href="http://www.w3.org/RDF/"><abbr
title="Resource Description Framework">RDF</abbr></a>-based calendar
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and group scheduling systems, and has a <a
href="http://www.w3.org/2002/12/cal/#tzd">workspace on time zone
data</a> converted from <code>tz</code>. An earlier <a
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href="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/foo">schema</a> was sketched out.</li>
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</ul>
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<h2>Other <code>tz</code> compilers</h2>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="http://www.dachaplin.dsl.pipex.com/vzic/">Vzic iCalendar
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Timezone Converter</a> describes a <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_%28programming_language%29">C</a>
program that compiles
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<code>tz</code> source into iCalendar-compatible VTIMEZONE files.
Vzic is freely
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available under the <a
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href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html"><abbr>GNU</abbr>
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General Public License (<abbr
title="General Public License">GPL</abbr>)</a>.</li>
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<li><a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/tzical">tziCal - tz
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database conversion utility</a> is like Vzic, except for the <a
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href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework">.NET framework</a>.</li>
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<li><a
href="http://search.cpan.org/dist/DateTime-TimeZone/">DateTime::TimeZone</a>
contains a script <code>parse_olson</code> that compiles
<code>tz</code> source into <a href="http://www.perl.org/">Perl</a>
modules. It is part of the Perl <a
href="http://datetime.perl.org/">DateTime Project</a>, which is freely
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available under both the <abbr>GPL</abbr> and the Perl Artistic
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License. DateTime::TimeZone also contains a script
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<code>tests_from_zdump</code> that generates test cases for each clock
transition in the <code>tz</code> database.</li>
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<li><a href="http://icu-project.org/">International Components for
Unicode (<abbr>ICU</abbr>)</a> contains C/C++ and <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_%28programming_language%29">Java</a>
libraries for internationalization that
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has a compiler from <code>tz</code> source
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into an <abbr>ICU</abbr>-specific format.
<abbr>ICU</abbr> is freely available under a
<abbr title="Berkeley Software Distribution">BSD</abbr>-style license.</li>
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<li><a href="http://joda-time.sourceforge.net/">Joda Time - Java date
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and time <abbr title="Application Program Interface">API</abbr></a>
contains a class
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<code>org.joda.time.tz.ZoneInfoCompiler</code> that compiles
<code>tz</code> source into a Joda-specific binary format. Joda Time
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is freely available under a <abbr>BSD</abbr>-style license.</li>
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<li><a href="http://pytz.sourceforge.net">PyTZ - Python Time
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Zone Library</a> compiles <code>tz</code> source into
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<a href="http://python.org/">Python</a>.
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It is freely available under a <abbr>BSD</abbr>-style license.</li>
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<li><a href="http://tzinfo.rubyforge.org/">TZInfo - Ruby Timezone Library</a>
compiles <code>tz</code> source into
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<a href="http://ruby-lang.org">Ruby</a>.
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It is freely available under the <abbr
title="Massachusetts Institute of Technology">MIT</abbr> license.</li>
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<li>The <a href="http://chronos-st.org/">Chronos Date/Time
Library</a> is a <a href="http://smalltalk.org">Smalltalk</a> class
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library that compiles <code>tz</code> source into a <a
href="http://date-time-zone.com/">time zone repository</a> whose format
is either proprietary or an <a href="http://www.w3.org/XML/"><abbr
title="Extensible Markup Language">XML</abbr></a>-encoded
representation.</li>
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<li>Starting with version 8.5, <a href="http://tcl.tk/">Tcl</a>
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contains a developer-oriented parser that compiles <samp>tz</samp>
source into text files, along with a runtime that can read those
files. Tcl is freely available under a <abbr>BSD</abbr>-style
license.</li>
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</ul>
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<h2>Other <code>tz</code> binary file readers</h2>
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<ul>
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<li>The <a
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href="http://www.gnu.org/software/libc/"><abbr>GNU</abbr> C
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Library</a>
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has an independent, thread-safe implementation of
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a <code>tz</code> binary file reader.
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This library is freely available under the
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<a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/lesser.html">
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<abbr>GNU</abbr> Lesser General Public License
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(<abbr title="Lesser General Public License">LGPL</abbr>)</a>,
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and is widely used in <abbr>GNU</abbr>/Linux systems.</li>
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<li><a href="http://bmsi.com/java/#TZ">ZoneInfo.java</a>
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is a <code>tz</code> binary file reader written in Java.
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It is freely available under the <abbr>LGPL</abbr>.</li>
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<li>Tcl, mentioned above, also contains a
<code>tz</code> binary file reader.</li>
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</ul>
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<h2>Other <code>tz</code>-based time zone software</h2>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="http://stemhaus.com/firefox/foxclocks/">FoxClocks</a>
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is an extension for <a
href="http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Toolkit_API">Mozilla
Toolkit</a> applications like <a
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href="http://mozilla.com/firefox">Firefox</a>, <a
href="http://mozilla.com/thunderbird">Thunderbird</a>, and
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<a
href="http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/sunbird/">Sunbird</a>.
It displays multiple clocks in the application window, and has a mapping
interface to <a href="http://earth.google.com/">Google Earth</a>.
It is freely available under the <abbr>GPL</abbr>.</li>
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<li><a
href="http://users.skynet.be/Peter.Verthez/projects/intclock/">International
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clock (intclock)</a> is a multi-timezone clock for
<abbr>GNU</abbr>/Linux and similar systems. It is freely available
under the <abbr>GPL</abbr>.</li>
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<li><a href="http://codeplex.com/publicdomain">PublicDomain</a>
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has a copy of a recent <code>tz</code> database, accessed via a <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_Sharp">C#</a> library. As its
name suggests, it is in the public domain. Only current time stamps
are well supported; historical data are compiled into the runtime but
are not easily accessible.</li>
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<li><a href="http://java.sun.com/">Sun Java</a> releases since 1.4
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contain a copy of a subset of a recent <code>tz</code> database in a
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Java-specific format.</li>
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<li><a href="http://kimmo.suominen.com/sw/timezone/">Time Zone</a> is
a <a href="http://wordpress.org/">WordPress</a> plugin. It is freely
available under a <abbr>BSD</abbr>-style license.</li>
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<li><a
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href="http://veladg.com/velaterra.html">VelaTerra</a> is
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a Mac OS X program. Its developers
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<a href="http://veladg.com/tzoffer.html">offer free
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licenses</a> to <code>tz</code> contributors.</li>
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<li><a
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href="http://worldtimeexplorer.com/">World Time Explorer</a> is a
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Microsoft Windows program.</li>
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<li>
<a href="http://www.toriasoft.com">
WorldClock for Windows and Windows Mobile</a>
lets users "see the time in up to 25 locations in the world at once."
(From Hans Nieuwenhuis, 2009-11-02.)
</li>
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</ul>
<h2>Other time zone databases</h2>
<ul>
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<li><a href="http://www.astro.com/cgi/aq.cgi">Atlas Query</a>
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is Astrodienst's Web version of Shanks's
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excellent time zone history atlases published in both <a
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href="http://astrocom.com/products/software.php?software_id=ibmwboth">computer</a>
and book form (<a
href="http://astrocom.com/products/book.php?book_id=b110x">one volume
for the USA</a>, and <a
href="http://astrocom.com/products/book.php?book_id=b112x">one for
other locations</a>) by <a
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href="http://astrocom.com/">Astro Communications Services</a>.</li>
<li><a href="http://worldtime.com/">WORLDTIME: interactive atlas,
time info, public holidays</a>
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contains information on local time, sunrise and sunset,
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and public holidays in several hundred cities around the world.</li>
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<li><a href="http://worldtimeserver.com/">World Time Server</a>
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is another time zone database.</li>
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<li><a href="http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/tzones.html">World Time Zones</a>
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contains data from the Time Service Department of the
<abbr>US</abbr> Naval Observatory, used as the source
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for the <code>usno*</code> files in the <code>tz</code> distribution.</li>
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<li>The <a href="http://iata.org/ps/publications/SSIM.htm">Standard
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Schedules Information Manual</a> of the
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<a href="http://iata.org/index.htm">International Air Transport
2005-10-03 09:43:50 -04:00
Association</a>
gives current time zone rules for airports served by commercial aviation.</li>
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<li>Some Microsoft Windows versions contain time zone information in
an undocumented format, with IDs that can be mapped to <code>TZ</code>
values using the <a
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href="http://unicode.org/cldr/data/diff/supplemental/windows_tzid.html">Windows
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&rarr; Tzid table</a> maintained by the <abbr
title="Common Locale Data Repository">CLDR</abbr> data mentioned
below.</li>
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<li>
<a href="http://code.google.com/p/tzdata/">
http://code.google.com/p/tzdata/
</a>
provides programming-language-specific representations of timezone
data. Currently this includes XML, PHP, Ruby, Javascript, JSON and CSV
formatted data. The repository is updated as soon as the FTP
distribution is updated. All data can be downloaded as a zip and/or it
can be obtained/synced via anonymous SVN. Data is made available under
the MIT license. (From Rich Tibbett.)
</li>
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</ul>
<h2>Maps</h2>
<ul>
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<li>The <a href="https://www.cia.gov/">United States Central
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Intelligence Agency (<abbr
title="Central Intelligence Agency">CIA</abbr>)</a> publishes a <a
2007-08-20 10:45:09 -04:00
href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/reference_maps/pdf/time_zones.pdf">time
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zone map</a>; the
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<a
href="http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/world.html">Perry-Casta&ntilde;eda
Library Map Collection</a>
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of the University of Texas at Austin has copies of
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recent editions.
1998-05-26 13:01:51 -04:00
The pictorial quality is good,
but the maps do not indicate summer time,
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and parts of the data are a few years out of date.</li>
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<li><a href="http://worldtimezone.com/">Current time around the world
and standard time zones map of the world</a>
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has several fancy time zone maps; it covers Russia particularly well.
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The maps' pictorial quality is not quite as good as the
<abbr>CIA</abbr>'s
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but the maps are more up to date.</li>
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</ul>
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<h2>Time zone boundaries</h2>
<ul>
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<li><a href="http://efele.net/maps/tz/">TZ timezone maps</a> contains a <a
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href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shapefile">shapefile</a> of the
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<code>tz</code> regions in the world.</li>
2007-12-31 10:23:09 -05:00
<li><a href="http://statoids.com/statoids.html">Administrative Divisions
2004-09-23 10:13:54 -04:00
of Countries ("Statoids")</a> contains detailed lists of
<code>tz</code>-related zone subdivision data.</li>
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<li><a href="http://home.tiscali.nl/~t876506/Multizones.html">Time
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zone boundaries for multizone countries</a> summarizes legal
boundaries between time zones within countries.</li>
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<li>Manifold.net's <a
href="http://www.manifold.net/download/freemaps.html">Free Maps and
2005-03-01 08:43:47 -05:00
<abbr title="Geographic Information Systems">GIS</abbr>
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Data</a> includes a Manifold-format map of
world time zone boundaries distributed under the
<abbr>GPL</abbr>.</li>
<li>The <abbr>US</abbr> Geological Survey's National Atlas of
the United States
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publishes the <a href="http://nationalatlas.gov/mld/timeznp.html">Time
2001-03-13 12:32:26 -05:00
Zones of the United States</a> in the public domain.</li>
<li>The GeoCommunity lists several commercial sources for <a
href="http://spatialnews.geocomm.com/features/timezones/">International
Time Zones and Time Zone Data</a>.</li>
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<li>A ship within the <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_waters">territorial
waters</a> of any nation uses that nation's time. In international
waters, time zone boundaries are meridians 15&deg; apart, except that
UTC&minus;12 and UTC+12 are each 7.5&deg; wide and are separated by
the 180&deg; meridian (not by the International Date Line, which is
for land and territorial waters only). A captain can change ship's
clocks any time after entering a new time zone; midnight changes are
common.</li>
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</ul>
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<h2>Civil time concepts and history</h2>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="http://physics.nist.gov/GenInt/Time/time.html">A
Walk through Time</a>
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surveys the evolution of timekeeping.</li>
2003-10-06 09:32:20 -04:00
<li><a href="http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/">About Daylight
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Saving Time - History, rationale, laws &amp; dates</a>
is an overall history of <abbr>DST</abbr>.</li>
2007-12-31 10:23:09 -05:00
<li><a href="http://energy.ca.gov/daylightsaving.html">Saving Time,
2005-10-03 09:43:50 -04:00
Saving Energy</a> discusses a primary justification for <abbr>DST</abbr>.</li>
2007-12-31 10:23:09 -05:00
<li><a href="http://seizethedaylight.com/dst/">Who Knew? A Brief
2005-04-04 11:23:08 -04:00
History of Daylight Saving Time</a> summarizes some of the contentious
history of <abbr>DST</abbr>.</li>
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<li><a href="http://toi.iriti.cnr.it/">The
Time of Internet</a>
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describes time zones and daylight saving time,
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with diagrams.
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The time zone map is out of date, however.</li>
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<li><a href="http://www.phys.uu.nl/~vgent/idl/idl.htm">A History of
the International Date Line</a> tells the story of the most important
time zone boundary.</li>
2007-12-31 10:23:09 -05:00
<li><a href="http://statoids.com/tconcept.html">Basic Time
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Zone Concepts</a> discusses terminological issues behind time zones.</li>
</ul>
<h2>National histories of legal time</h2>
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<dl>
<dt>Australia</dt>
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<dd>The Parliamentary Library has commissioned <a
href="http://www.aph.gov.au/LIBRARY/Pubs/rn/2006-07/07rn13.pdf">research
note on daylight saving time in Australia</a>.
2007-03-15 09:51:25 -04:00
The Bureau of Meteorology publishes a list of
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<a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/dst_times.shtml">Implementation Dates of Daylight Savings Time within Australia</a>.</dd>
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<dt>Belgium</dt>
<dd>The Royal Observatory of Belgium maintains a table of <a
href="http://www.astro.oma.be/GENERAL/INFO/nli001a.html"
hreflang="nl">time in Belgium (in Dutch)</a>.</dd>
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<dt>Brazil</dt>
<dd>The Time Service Department of the National Observatory
records <a href="http://pcdsh01.on.br/DecHV.html"
hreflang="pt-BR">Brazil's daylight saving time decrees (in
Portuguese)</a>.</dd>
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<dt>Canada</dt>
<dd>The Institute for National Measurement Standards publishes current
and some older information about <a
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href="http://inms-ienm.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/time_services/daylight_saving_e.html">Time
2007-12-31 10:23:09 -05:00
Zones &amp; Daylight Saving Time</a>.</dd>
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<dt>Chile</dt>
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<dd>The Chilean Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service publishes a <a
href="http://www.horaoficial.cl/horaof.htm" hreflang="es"> history of
official time (in Spanish)</a>.</dd>
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<dt>Germany</dt>
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<dd>The National Institute for Science and Technology maintains the <a
2003-10-06 09:32:20 -04:00
href="http://www.ptb.de/en/org/4/44/441/dars_e.htm">Realisation of
2001-03-13 12:32:26 -05:00
Legal Time in Germany</a>.</dd>
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<dt>Israel</dt>
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<dd>The Interior Ministry periodically issues <a
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href="ftp://ftp.cs.huji.ac.il/pub/tz/announcements"
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hreflang="he">announcements (in Hebrew)</a>.</dd>
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<dt>Mexico</dt>
<dd>The Investigation and Analysis Service of the Mexican Library of
Congress has published a <a
href="http://www.cddhcu.gob.mx/bibliot/publica/inveyana/polisoc/horver/"
hreflang="es">history of Mexican local time (in Spanish)</a>.</dd>
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<dt>Malaysia</dt>
<dd>See Singapore below.</dd>
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<dt>Netherlands</dt>
<dd><a href="http://www.phys.uu.nl/~vgent/wettijd/wettijd.htm"
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hreflang="nl">Legal time in the Netherlands (in Dutch)</a>
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covers the history of local time in the Netherlands from ancient times.</dd>
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<dt>New Zealand</dt>
<dd>The Department of Internal Affairs maintains a brief history <a
2007-12-31 10:23:09 -05:00
href="http://dia.govt.nz/diawebsite.nsf/wpg_URL/Resource-material-Information-We-Provide-About-Daylight-Saving">About
2005-08-22 12:05:25 -04:00
Daylight Saving</a>. The privately-maintained <a
2007-12-31 10:23:09 -05:00
href="http://astrologyschool.com/nztime.html">History of New Zealand
2005-08-22 12:05:25 -04:00
time</a> has more details.</dd>
<dt>Norway</dt>
<dd>The Norwegian Meteorological Institute lists
<a href="http://met.no/met/met_lex/q_u/sommertid.html" hreflang="no">Summer
time in Norway (in Norwegian)</a>, citing the
Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, Oslo.</dd>
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<dt>Singapore</dt>
<dd><a
href="http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/teaching/timezone.html">Why
is Singapore in the "Wrong" Time Zone?</a> details the
history of legal time in Singapore and Malaysia.</dd>
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<dt>United Kingdom</dt>
<dd><a
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href="http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~jsm28/british-time/">History of
2002-10-15 12:59:28 -04:00
legal time in Britain</a> discusses in detail the country
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with perhaps the best-documented history of clock adjustments.
The National Physical Laboratory also maintains an <a
2008-07-07 09:45:31 -04:00
href="http://www.npl.co.uk/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.2714">Archive
2005-08-22 12:05:25 -04:00
of Summer time dates</a>.</dd>
2003-03-24 09:30:03 -05:00
</dl>
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<h2>Precision timekeeping</h2>
<ul>
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<li><a
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href="http://literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/5965-7984E.pdf">The
2002-10-15 12:59:28 -04:00
Science of Timekeeping</a> is a thorough introduction
2001-03-13 12:32:26 -05:00
to the theory and practice of precision timekeeping.</li>
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<li><a href="http://www.ntp.org/"><abbr
title="Network Time Protocol">NTP</abbr>: The Network
Time Protocol</a>
2003-10-06 09:32:20 -04:00
discusses how to synchronize clocks of
2000-12-14 15:31:56 -05:00
Internet hosts.</li>
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<li><a
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href="ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc4833.txt">Timezone
Options for <abbr title="Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol">DHCP</abbr></a>
(Internet <abbr>RFC</abbr> 4833)
2007-12-03 09:50:40 -05:00
specifies a <a
2006-04-03 10:04:44 -04:00
href="http://www.dhcp.org/">DHCP</a> option for a server to configure
2006-04-03 10:07:14 -04:00
a client's time zone and daylight saving settings automatically.</li>
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<li><a href="http://gauss.gge.unb.ca/GMT.UT.and.the.RGO.html">A Few
Facts Concerning <abbr title="Greenwich Mean Time">GMT</abbr>, <abbr
title="Universal Time">UT</abbr>, and
the <abbr title="Royal Greenwich Observatory">RGO</abbr></a>
answers questions like "What is the
difference between <abbr>GMT</abbr> and <abbr>UTC</abbr>?"</li>
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<li><a
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href="http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~rfisher/Ephemerides/times.html">Astronomical
2004-09-23 10:13:54 -04:00
Times</a> explains more abstruse astronomical time scales like
<abbr title="Terrestrial Dynamic Time">TDT</abbr>,
<abbr title="Geocentric Coordinate Time">TCG</abbr>, and
2006-01-30 08:59:12 -05:00
<abbr title="Barycentric Dynamic Time">TDB</abbr>.
<a href="http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/leapsecs/timescales.html">Time
Scales</a> goes into more detail, particularly for historical variants.</li>
2007-12-31 10:23:09 -05:00
<li>The <a href="http://iau.org/"><abbr
2004-09-23 10:13:54 -04:00
title="International Astronomical Union">IAU</abbr></a>'s <a
2005-03-01 08:43:47 -05:00
href="http://www.iau-sofa.rl.ac.uk/"><abbr
title="Standards Of Fundamental Astronomy">SOFA</abbr></a>
2004-09-23 10:13:54 -04:00
initiative publishes Fortran
code for converting among time scales like
<abbr title="International Atomic Time">TAI</abbr>,
<abbr>TDB</abbr>, <abbr>TDT</abbr> and
<abbr>UTC</abbr>.</li>
2007-12-31 10:23:09 -05:00
<li><a href="http://jpl.nasa.gov/basics/bsf2-3.htm">Basics of
2001-03-13 12:32:26 -05:00
Space Flight - Reference Systems - Time Conventions</a>
2000-12-14 15:31:56 -05:00
briefly explains interplanetary space flight timekeeping.</li>
2001-06-05 13:48:06 -04:00
<li><a
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href="http://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/mars24/help/notes.html">Technical
Notes on Mars Solar Time as Adopted by the Mars24 Sunclock</a> briefly
2004-09-23 10:13:54 -04:00
describes Mars Coordinated Time (<abbr
title="Mars Coordinated Time">MTC</abbr>) and the
diverse local time
2004-05-27 12:00:29 -04:00
scales used by each landed mission on Mars.</li>
2007-12-31 10:23:09 -05:00
<li><a href="http://leapsecond.com/">LeapSecond.com</a> is
2006-01-30 08:59:12 -05:00
dedicated not only to leap seconds but to precise time and frequency
in general. It covers the state of the art in amateur timekeeping, and
how the art has progressed over the past few decades.</li>
2004-05-27 12:00:29 -04:00
<li><a
2003-10-06 09:32:20 -04:00
href="http://hpiers.obspm.fr/eop-pc/products/bulletins/bulletins.html">Bulletins
2004-09-23 10:13:54 -04:00
maintained by the
<abbr title="International Earth Rotation Service">IERS</abbr>
<abbr title="Earth Orientation Parameters">EOP</abbr>
(<abbr title="Product Center">PC</abbr>)</a> contains official publications of
2001-06-05 13:48:06 -04:00
the Earth Orientation Parameters Product Center of the
1997-05-03 22:08:38 -04:00
International Earth Rotation Service, the committee that decides
2000-12-14 15:31:56 -05:00
when leap seconds occur.</li>
<li>The <a
2007-12-31 10:23:09 -05:00
href="http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/leapsecs">Leap
Second Discussion List</a> covers <a
2004-09-23 10:13:54 -04:00
href="http://gauss.gge.unb.ca/papers.pdf/gpsworld.november99.pdf">McCarthy
2006-08-28 12:18:48 -04:00
and Klepczynski's proposal to discontinue leap seconds</a>,
discussed further in
2003-10-06 09:32:20 -04:00
<a href="http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/time/metrologia-leapsecond.pdf">The
2006-08-28 12:18:48 -04:00
leap second: its history and possible future</a>.
2009-03-19 15:44:02 -04:00
The (now disbanded) <a href="http://members.aas.org/comms/leap.cfm"><abbr
2006-08-28 12:18:48 -04:00
title="American Astronomical Society">AAS</abbr> Leap Second
Committee</a> has solicited input on this proposal.
2006-01-30 08:59:12 -05:00
<a href="http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/leapsecs/">The
Future of Leap Seconds</a> covers this
2003-10-06 09:32:20 -04:00
contentious issue.</li>
2000-12-14 15:31:56 -05:00
</ul>
<h2>Time notation</h2>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/iso-time.html">A Summary of
the International Standard Date and Time Notation</a> is a good
2004-09-23 10:13:54 -04:00
summary of
<a
2005-01-17 18:34:51 -05:00
href="http://www.iso.org/iso/en/CatalogueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?CSNUMBER=40874"><abbr
title="International Organization for Standardization">ISO</abbr>
8601:2004 -- Data elements and interchange formats -- Information
interchange -- Representation of dates and times</a>.</li>
2001-06-05 13:48:06 -04:00
<li>
2007-02-26 09:09:15 -05:00
<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema-2/#dateTime"><abbr>XML</abbr>
2006-01-30 08:59:12 -05:00
Schema: Datatypes - dateTime</a> specifies a format inspired by
2007-02-26 09:09:15 -05:00
<abbr>ISO</abbr> 8601 that is in common use in XML data.</li>
2006-01-30 08:59:12 -05:00
<li>
2007-12-31 10:23:09 -05:00
<a href="ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc2822.txt">Internet
Message Format</a> (Internet <abbr>RFC</abbr> 2822) &sect;3.3
2001-06-05 13:48:06 -04:00
specifies the time notation used in email and <a
2004-09-23 10:13:54 -04:00
href="ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc2616.txt"><abbr>HTTP</abbr></a>
headers.</li>
2001-06-05 13:48:06 -04:00
<li>
2007-12-31 10:23:09 -05:00
<a href="ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc3339.txt">Date and Time
on the Internet: Timestamps</a> (Internet <abbr>RFC</abbr> 3339)
specifies an <abbr>ISO</abbr> 8601
2004-09-23 10:13:54 -04:00
profile for use in new Internet
2002-10-15 12:59:28 -04:00
protocols.</li>
<li>
2006-01-30 08:59:12 -05:00
<a href="http://www.hackcraft.net/web/datetime/">Date &amp; Time
Formats on the Web</a> surveys web- and Internet-oriented date and time
formats.</li>
<li>
2007-12-31 10:23:09 -05:00
<a href="http://exit109.com/~ghealton/y2k/yrexamples.html">The
2002-10-15 12:59:28 -04:00
Best of Dates, the Worst of Dates</a> covers many problems encountered
by software developers when handling dates and time stamps.</li>
2006-08-28 12:18:48 -04:00
<li>The <a
href="http://unicode.org/cldr/">Unicode Common Locale Data Repository
(<abbr>CLDR</abbr>) Project</a> has localizations for time zone names,
abbreviations, identifiers, and formats. For example, it contains
French translations for "Eastern European Summer Time", "<abbr
title="Eastern European Summer Time">EEST</abbr>", and
"Bucharest". <a
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href="http://unicode.org/cldr/data/charts/by_type/names.metazone.html">By-Type
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Chart: names.metazone</a> shows these values for many locales.
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<abbr>ICU</abbr> contains a mechanism for using this data.</li>
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<li>Alphabetic time zone abbreviations should not be used as unique
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identifiers for <abbr>UTC</abbr> offsets as they are ambiguous in
practice. For example, "<abbr>EST</abbr>" denotes 5 hours behind
<abbr>UTC</abbr> in English-speaking North America, but it denotes 10
or 11 hours ahead of <abbr>UTC</abbr> in Australia; and
French-speaking North Americans prefer
"<abbr title="Heure Normale de l'Est">HNE</abbr>" to
"<abbr>EST</abbr>". For <abbr>POSIX</abbr> the <code>tz</code>
database contains English abbreviations for all time stamps but in
many cases these are merely inventions of the database
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maintainers.</li>
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<li>Numeric time zone abbreviations typically count hours east of
<abbr>UTC</abbr>, e.g., <code>+09</code> for Japan and
<code>-10</code> for Hawaii. However, the <abbr>POSIX</abbr>
<code>TZ</code> environment variable uses the opposite convention. For
example, one might use <code>TZ="JST-9"</code> and
<code>TZ="HST10"</code> for Japan and Hawaii, respectively. If the
<code>tz</code> database is available, it is usually better to use
settings like <code>TZ="Asia/Tokyo"</code> and
<code>TZ="Pacific/Honolulu"</code> instead, as this should avoid
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confusion, handle old time stamps better, and insulate you better from
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any future changes to the rules. One should never set
<abbr>POSIX</abbr> <code>TZ</code> to a value like
<code>"GMT-9"</code>, though, since this would falsely claim that
local time is nine hours ahead of <abbr>UTC</abbr> and the time zone
is called "<abbr>GMT</abbr>".</li>
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</ul>
<h2>Related indexes</h2>
<ul>
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<li><a href="tz-art.htm">Time and the Arts</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://www.dmoz.org/Reference/Time/">Open Directory -
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Reference: Time</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://directory.google.com/Top/Reference/Time/">Google Directory
- Reference &gt; Time</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://dir.yahoo.com/Science/Measurements_and_Units/Time">Yahoo!
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Directory &gt; Science &gt; Measurements and Units &gt; Time</a></li>
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</ul>
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</html>