Xref: news2.mv.net comp.os.msdos.djgpp:4227
From: HAUDE AT alpha5 DOT physnet DOT uni-hamburg DOT de (Daniel Haude)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject: Re: What is all this "timezone" stuff for?
Date: 24 May 1996 12:23:01 GMT
Organization: Universitaet Hamburg
Lines: 31
Message-ID: <4o49n5$aa9@rzsun02.rrz.uni-hamburg.de>
References: <199605232224 DOT SAA08396 AT delorie DOT com>
Reply-To: haude AT physnet DOT uni-hamburg DOT de
NNTP-Posting-Host: alpha4.physnet.uni-hamburg.de
To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
DJ-Gateway: from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp

On Thu, 23 May 1996 22:24:21 GMT, DJ Delorie (dj AT delorie DOT com) wrote:
>
>The timezone directory exists to describe all the possible time zone
>mechanisms throughout the world.  Most dos compilers assume you're in
>the USA (some assume a particular time zone!).  DJGPP does not.  By
>default, it uses USA, but if you aren't in the USA you can use these
>extra files to configure the time calculations for your location.

I'm not sure I want to start a lengthy discussion about this, but my curiosity
isn't quite satisfied yet. What's wrong with reading the local time from the
computer system clock? Isn't it sensible to assume that the internal clock of
the PC the program in question runs on is set to local time already? Or is it
that people might run into situations that require the program to know, say,
GMT, and the software then calculates GMT from the local system clock time plus
the time zone information for the location the computer operates at (in my
case, Germany)?
Folks, before adding my name to y'alls killfile (and before I delete the
timezone directory from my PC), allow me one last question regarding this
matter: would a program that's supposed to be used in different timezones have
to be re-built for each zone, including different timezone files each time?

>If you don't need them, you can delete the whole directory.
I'll be glad to.

-- 
Daniel Haude
Institut fuer Angewandte Physik
Universitaet Hamburg

haude AT physnet DOT uni-hamburg DOT de