Subject: Re: New time routines
To: eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il
Date: Wed, 31 Aug 1994 08:54:46 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Henrik Storner <storner AT olicom DOT dk>
Cc: djgpp AT sun DOT soe DOT clarkson DOT edu

Eli writes:

> Henrik Storner <storner AT olicom DOT dk> writes:
> > I have mixed emotions about this. On the one hand, I agree that it would
> > be nice to have the de-facto standards working like they normally do. On
> > the other hand, I hesitate to change the ctime library.
> >
> > I've put together the following little routine, which is layered on
> 
> Why is it necessary to change the existing code of tzset()?  With the
> zoneinfo files properly installed, there is a file called ``posixrules''
> there which contains all the info missing from an incomplete TZ spec
> like EST5EDT.

It is utterly unnecessary to change tzset() if the zoneinfo files are
installed. But that is precisely the point: The need for having zoneinfo
files present on your harddisk makes it more difficult to distribute 
DJGPP-compiled binaries. At least with go32, you can bind that to the 
executable. The zoneinfo files just _have_ to be present, and in the
right place, too! Is it reasonable to expect that "ordinary users (tm)" 
have such a setup ?

My intention with the routine I posted was not to replace tzset(), but
rather to provide a means for being able to handle incomplete TZ specifica-
tions, even when the zoneinfo files are missing. As Greg Roelofs has 
been telling us over the past days, you cannot expect people who just
want to use zip/unzip (or any other DJGPP-compiled application) to install 
300K of support files for DJGPP timezone handling. 
-- 
Henrik Storner        | "Man is the best computer we can put aboard a space-
(storner AT olicom DOT dk)   |  craft ... and the only one that can be mass produced 
System Engineering    |  with unskilled labor."
Olicom Denmark        |                                   Wernher von Braun