Bug#498171: Incorrect Debian README in tzdata
Package: tzdata
Version: 2008e-4
Severity: minor
The README added to the tzdata package is wrong.
The right db is UTC, and the posix db is POSIX.
TAI is not represented by the tzdata at all. A TAI zone db would
be 10 seconds ahead of POSIX. Ie, 14:15:42 POSIX time is 14:15:52 TAI
(and is currently 14:15:19 in right) on any given day in any given zone.
(POSIX' epoch may be specified in UTC, but since they pretend that leap
seconds do not exist they consequently define their own time.)
posix is the default not because that is what anyone uses in real life,
but because too much code incorrectly assumes that hours start at int(t/3600)
and POSIX chickened out from Doing The Right Thing Anyway.
Including a README about it is a Good Thing, but the initial one is misleading.
-- System Information:
Debian Release: lenny/sid
APT prefers unstable
APT policy: (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Kernel: Linux 2.6.26-xenU (SMP w/1 CPU core)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Versions of packages tzdata depends on:
ii debconf [debconf-2.0] 1.5.23 Debian configuration management sy
tzdata recommends no packages.
tzdata suggests no packages.
-- debconf information excluded
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