zic.8

.TH ZIC 8
.SH NAME
zic \- time zone compiler
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B zic
[
.I option
\&... ] [
.I filename
\&... ]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.ie '\(lq'' .ds lq \&"\"
.el .ds lq \(lq\"
.ie '\(rq'' .ds rq \&"\"
.el .ds rq \(rq\"
.de q
\\$3\*(lq\\$1\*(rq\\$2
..
.ie '\(la'' .ds < <
.el .ds < \(la
.ie '\(ra'' .ds > >
.el .ds > \(ra
.ie \n(.g \{\
.  ds : \:
.  ds - \f(CW-\fP
.\}
.el \{\
.  ds :
.  el ds - \-
.\}
.I Zic
reads text from the file(s) named on the command line
and creates the time conversion information files specified in this input.
If a
.I filename
is
.q "\*-" ,
the standard input is read.
.PP
These options are available:
.TP
.BI "\*-\*-version"
Output version information and exit.
.TP
.BI "\*-d " directory
Create time conversion information files in the named directory rather than
in the standard directory named below.
.TP
.BI "\*-l " timezone
Use the given time zone as local time.
.I Zic
will act as if the input contained a link line of the form
.sp
.ti +.5i
Link	\fItimezone\fP		localtime
.TP
.BI "\*-p " timezone
Use the given time zone's rules when handling POSIX-format
time zone environment variables.
.I Zic
will act as if the input contained a link line of the form
.sp
.ti +.5i
Link	\fItimezone\fP		posixrules
.TP
.BI "\*-L " leapsecondfilename
Read leap second information from the file with the given name.
If this option is not used,
no leap second information appears in output files.
.TP
.B \*-v
Be more verbose, and complain about the following situations:
.RS
.PP
The input specifies a link to a link.
.PP
A year that appears in a data file is outside the range
of years representable by
.IR time (2)
values.
.PP
A time of 24:00 or more appears in the input.
Pre-1998 versions of
.I zic
prohibit 24:00, and pre-2007 versions prohibit times greater than 24:00.
.PP
A rule goes past the start or end of the month.
Pre-2004 versions of
.I zic
prohibit this.
.PP
The output file does not contain all the information about the
long-term future of a zone, because the future cannot be summarized as
an extended POSIX TZ string.  For example, as of 2013 this problem
occurs for Iran's daylight-saving rules for the predicted future, as
these rules are based on the Iranian calendar, which cannot be
represented.
.PP
The output contains data that may not be handled properly by client
code designed for older
.I zic
output formats.  These compatibility issues affect only time stamps
before 1970 or after the start of 2038.
.PP
A time zone abbreviation has fewer than 3 characters.
POSIX requires at least 3.
.PP
An output file name contains a byte that is not an ASCII letter,
.q "\*-" ,
.q "/" ,
or
.q "_" ;
or it contains a file name component that contains more than 14 bytes
or that starts with
.q "\*-" .
.RE
.TP
.B \*-s
Limit time values stored in output files to values that are the same
whether they're taken to be signed or unsigned.
You can use this option to generate SVVS-compatible files.
.PP
Input files should be text files, that is, they should be a series of
zero or more lines, each ending in a newline byte and containing at
most 511 bytes, and without any NUL bytes.  The input text's encoding
is typically UTF-8 or ASCII; it should have a unibyte representation
for the POSIX Portable Character Set (PPCS)
\*<http://pubs\*:.opengroup\*:.org/\*:onlinepubs/\*:9699919799/\*:basedefs/\*:V1_chap06\*:.html\*>
and the encoding's non-unibyte characters should consist entirely of
non-PPCS bytes.  Non-PPCS characters typically occur only in comments:
although output file names and time zone abbreviations can contain
nearly any character, other software will work better if these are
limited to the restricted syntax described under the
.B \*-v
option.
.PP
Input lines are made up of fields.
Fields are separated from one another by one or more white space characters.
The white space characters are space, form feed, carriage return, newline,
tab, and vertical tab.
Leading and trailing white space on input lines is ignored.
An unquoted sharp character (#) in the input introduces a comment which extends
to the end of the line the sharp character appears on.
White space characters and sharp characters may be enclosed in double quotes
(") if they're to be used as part of a field.
Any line that is blank (after comment stripping) is ignored.
Non-blank lines are expected to be of one of three types:
rule lines, zone lines, and link lines.
.PP
Names (such as month names) must be in English and are case insensitive.
Abbreviations, if used, must be unambiguous in context.
.PP
A rule line has the form
.nf
.ti +.5i
.ta \w'Rule\0\0'u +\w'NAME\0\0'u +\w'FROM\0\0'u +\w'1973\0\0'u +\w'TYPE\0\0'u +\w'Apr\0\0'u +\w'lastSun\0\0'u +\w'2:00\0\0'u +\w'SAVE\0\0'u
.sp
Rule	NAME	FROM	TO	TYPE	IN	ON	AT	SAVE	LETTER/S
.sp
For example:
.ti +.5i
.sp
Rule	US	1967	1973	\*-	Apr	lastSun	2:00	1:00	D
.sp
.fi
The fields that make up a rule line are:
.TP "\w'LETTER/S'u"
.B NAME
Gives the (arbitrary) name of the set of rules this rule is part of.
.TP
.B FROM
Gives the first year in which the rule applies.
Any integer year can be supplied; the proleptic Gregorian calendar is assumed.
The word
.B minimum
(or an abbreviation) means the minimum year representable as an integer.
The word
.B maximum
(or an abbreviation) means the maximum year representable as an integer.
Rules can describe times that are not representable as time values,
with the unrepresentable times ignored; this allows rules to be portable
among hosts with differing time value types.
.TP
.B TO
Gives the final year in which the rule applies.
In addition to
.B minimum
and
.B maximum
(as above),
the word
.B only
(or an abbreviation)
may be used to repeat the value of the
.B FROM
field.
.TP
.B TYPE
should be
.q \*-
and is present for compatibility with older versions of
.I zic
in which it could contain year types.
.TP
.B IN
Names the month in which the rule takes effect.
Month names may be abbreviated.
.TP
.B ON
Gives the day on which the rule takes effect.
Recognized forms include:
.nf
.in +.5i
.sp
.ta \w'Sun<=25\0\0'u
5	the fifth of the month
lastSun	the last Sunday in the month
lastMon	the last Monday in the month
Sun>=8	first Sunday on or after the eighth
Sun<=25	last Sunday on or before the 25th
.fi
.in -.5i
.sp
Names of days of the week may be abbreviated or spelled out in full.
Note that there must be no spaces within the
.B ON
field.
.TP
.B AT
Gives the time of day at which the rule takes effect.
Recognized forms include:
.nf
.in +.5i
.sp
.ta \w'1:28:13\0\0'u
2	time in hours
2:00	time in hours and minutes
15:00	24-hour format time (for times after noon)
1:28:14	time in hours, minutes, and seconds
\*-	equivalent to 0
.fi
.in -.5i
.sp
where hour 0 is midnight at the start of the day,
and hour 24 is midnight at the end of the day.
Any of these forms may be followed by the letter
.B w
if the given time is local
.q "wall clock"
time,
.B s
if the given time is local
.q "standard"
time, or
.B u
(or
.B g
or
.BR z )
if the given time is universal time;
in the absence of an indicator,
wall clock time is assumed.
The intent is that a rule line describes the instants when a
clock/calendar set to the type of time specified in the
.B AT
field would show the specified date and time of day.
.TP
.B SAVE
Gives the amount of time to be added to local standard time when the rule is in
effect.
This field has the same format as the
.B AT
field
(although, of course, the
.B w
and
.B s
suffixes are not used).
Only the sum of standard time and this amount matters; for example,
.I zic
does not distinguish a 10:30 standard time plus an 0:30
.B SAVE
from a 10:00 standard time plus a 1:00
.BR SAVE .
.TP
.B LETTER/S
Gives the
.q "variable part"
(for example, the
.q "S"
or
.q "D"
in
.q "EST"
or
.q "EDT" )
of time zone abbreviations to be used when this rule is in effect.
If this field is
.q \*- ,
the variable part is null.
.PP
A zone line has the form
.sp
.nf
.ti +.5i
.ta \w'Zone\0\0'u +\w'Australia/Adelaide\0\0'u +\w'GMTOFF\0\0'u +\w'RULES/SAVE\0\0'u +\w'FORMAT\0\0'u
Zone	NAME	GMTOFF	RULES/SAVE	FORMAT	[UNTILYEAR [MONTH [DAY [TIME]]]]
.sp
For example:
.sp
.ti +.5i
Zone	Australia/Adelaide	9:30	Aus	AC%sT	1971 Oct 31  2:00
.sp
.fi
The fields that make up a zone line are:
.TP "\w'GMTOFF'u"
.B NAME
The name of the time zone.
This is the name used in creating the time conversion information file for the
zone.
It should not contain a file name component
.q ".\&"
or
.q ".." ;
a file name component is a maximal substring that does not contain
.q "/" .
.TP
.B GMTOFF
The amount of time to add to UT to get standard time in this zone.
This field has the same format as the
.B AT
and
.B SAVE
fields of rule lines;
begin the field with a minus sign if time must be subtracted from UT.
.TP
.B RULES/SAVE
The name of the rule(s) that apply in the time zone or,
alternately, an amount of time to add to local standard time.
If this field is
.B \*-
then standard time always applies in the time zone.
When an amount of time is given, only the sum of standard time and
this amount matters.
.TP
.B FORMAT
The format for time zone abbreviations in this time zone.
The pair of characters
.B %s
is used to show where the
.q "variable part"
of the time zone abbreviation goes.
Alternately, a format can use the pair of characters
.B %z
to stand for the UTC offset in the form
.RI \(+- hh ,
.RI \(+- hhmm ,
or
.RI \(+- hhmmss ,
using the shortest form that does not lose information, where
.IR hh ,
.IR mm ,
and
.I ss
are the hours, minutes, and seconds east (+) or west (\(mi) of UTC.
Alternately,
a slash (/)
separates standard and daylight abbreviations.
To conform to POSIX, a time zone abbreviation should contain only
alphanumeric ASCII characters, "+" and "\*-".
.TP
.B UNTILYEAR [MONTH [DAY [TIME]]]
The time at which the UT offset or the rule(s) change for a location.
It is specified as a year, a month, a day, and a time of day.
If this is specified,
the time zone information is generated from the given UT offset
and rule change until the time specified, which is interpreted using
the rules in effect just before the transition.
The month, day, and time of day have the same format as the IN, ON, and AT
fields of a rule; trailing fields can be omitted, and default to the
earliest possible value for the missing fields.
.IP
The next line must be a
.q "continuation"
line; this has the same form as a zone line except that the
string
.q "Zone"
and the name are omitted, as the continuation line will
place information starting at the time specified as the
.q "until"
information in the previous line in the file used by the previous line.
Continuation lines may contain
.q "until"
information, just as zone lines do, indicating that the next line is a further
continuation.
.PP
If a zone changes at the same instant that a rule would otherwise take
effect in the earlier zone or continuation line, the rule is ignored.
In a single zone it is an error if two rules take effect at the same
instant, or if two zone changes take effect at the same instant.
.PP
A link line has the form
.sp
.nf
.ti +.5i
.ta \w'Link\0\0'u +\w'Europe/Istanbul\0\0'u
Link	TARGET	LINK-NAME
.sp
For example:
.sp
.ti +.5i
Link	Europe/Istanbul	Asia/Istanbul
.sp
.fi
The
.B TARGET
field should appear as the
.B NAME
field in some zone line.
The
.B LINK-NAME
field is used as an alternate name for that zone;
it has the same syntax as a zone line's
.B NAME
field.
.PP
Except for continuation lines,
lines may appear in any order in the input.
However, the behavior is unspecified if multiple zone or link lines
define the same name, or if the source of one link line is the target
of another.
.PP
Lines in the file that describes leap seconds have the following form:
.nf
.ti +.5i
.ta \w'Leap\0\0'u +\w'YEAR\0\0'u +\w'MONTH\0\0'u +\w'DAY\0\0'u +\w'HH:MM:SS\0\0'u +\w'CORR\0\0'u
.sp
Leap	YEAR	MONTH	DAY	HH:MM:SS	CORR	R/S
.sp
For example:
.ti +.5i
.sp
Leap	1974	Dec	31	23:59:60	+	S
.sp
.fi
The
.BR YEAR ,
.BR MONTH ,
.BR DAY ,
and
.B HH:MM:SS
fields tell when the leap second happened.
The
.B CORR
field
should be
.q "+"
if a second was added
or
.q "\*-"
if a second was skipped.
.\" There's no need to document the following, since it's impossible for more
.\" than one leap second to be inserted or deleted at a time.
.\" The C Standard is in error in suggesting the possibility.
.\" See Terry J Quinn, The BIPM and the accurate measure of time,
.\" Proc IEEE 79, 7 (July 1991), 894-905.
.\"	or
.\"	.q ++
.\"	if two seconds were added
.\"	or
.\"	.q --
.\"	if two seconds were skipped.
The
.B R/S
field
should be (an abbreviation of)
.q "Stationary"
if the leap second time given by the other fields should be interpreted as UTC
or
(an abbreviation of)
.q "Rolling"
if the leap second time given by the other fields should be interpreted as
local wall clock time.
.SH "EXTENDED EXAMPLE"
Here is an extended example of
.I zic
input, intended to illustrate many of its features.
.br
.ne 22
.nf
.in +2m
.ta \w'# Rule\0\0'u +\w'NAME\0\0'u +\w'FROM\0\0'u +\w'1973\0\0'u +\w'TYPE\0\0'u +\w'Apr\0\0'u +\w'lastSun\0\0'u +\w'2:00\0\0'u +\w'SAVE\0\0'u
.sp
# Rule	NAME	FROM	TO	TYPE	IN	ON	AT	SAVE	LETTER/S
Rule	Swiss	1941	1942	\*-	May	Mon>=1	1:00	1:00	S
Rule	Swiss	1941	1942	\*-	Oct	Mon>=1	2:00	0	\*-
.sp .5
Rule	EU	1977	1980	\*-	Apr	Sun>=1	1:00u	1:00	S
Rule	EU	1977	only	\*-	Sep	lastSun	1:00u	0	\*-
Rule	EU	1978	only	\*-	Oct	 1	1:00u	0	\*-
Rule	EU	1979	1995	\*-	Sep	lastSun	1:00u	0	\*-
Rule	EU	1981	max	\*-	Mar	lastSun	1:00u	1:00	S
Rule	EU	1996	max	\*-	Oct	lastSun	1:00u	0	\*-
.sp
.ta \w'# Zone\0\0'u +\w'Europe/Zurich\0\0'u +\w'GMTOFF\0\0'u +\w'RULES/SAVE\0\0'u +\w'FORMAT\0\0'u
# Zone	NAME	GMTOFF	RULES/SAVE	FORMAT	UNTIL
Zone	Europe/Zurich	0:34:08	\*-	LMT	1853 Jul 16
		0:29:46	\*-	BMT	1894 Jun
		1:00	Swiss	CE%sT	1981
		1:00	EU	CE%sT
.sp
Link	Europe/Zurich	Switzerland
.sp
.in
.fi
In this example, the zone is named Europe/Zurich but it has an alias
as Switzerland.  This example says that Zurich was 34 minutes and 8
seconds west of UT until 1853-07-16 at 00:00, when the legal offset
was changed to 7\(de\|26\(fm\|22.50\(sd; although this works out to
0:29:45.50, the input format cannot represent fractional seconds so it
is rounded here.  After 1894-06-01 at 00:00 Swiss daylight saving rules
(defined with lines beginning with "Rule Swiss") apply, and the UT offset
became one hour.  From 1981 to the present, EU daylight saving rules have
applied, and the UTC offset has remained at one hour.
.PP
In 1941 and 1942, daylight saving time applied from the first Monday
in May at 01:00 to the first Monday in October at 02:00.
The pre-1981 EU daylight-saving rules have no effect
here, but are included for completeness.  Since 1981, daylight
saving has begun on the last Sunday in March at 01:00 UTC.
Until 1995 it ended the last Sunday in September at 01:00 UTC,
but this changed to the last Sunday in October starting in 1996.
.PP
For purposes of
display, "LMT" and "BMT" were initially used, respectively.  Since
Swiss rules and later EU rules were applied, the display name for the
time zone has been CET for standard time and CEST for daylight saving
time.
.SH NOTES
For areas with more than two types of local time,
you may need to use local standard time in the
.B AT
field of the earliest transition time's rule to ensure that
the earliest transition time recorded in the compiled file is correct.
.PP
If,
for a particular zone,
a clock advance caused by the start of daylight saving
coincides with and is equal to
a clock retreat caused by a change in UT offset,
.IR zic
produces a single transition to daylight saving at the new UT offset
(without any change in wall clock time).
To get separate transitions
use multiple zone continuation lines
specifying transition instants using universal time.
.PP
Time stamps well before the Big Bang are silently omitted from the output.
This works around bugs in software that mishandles large negative time
stamps.  Call it sour grapes, but pre-Big-Bang time stamps are
physically suspect anyway.  The pre-Big-Bang cutoff time is
approximate and may change in future versions.
.SH FILE
/usr/local/etc/zoneinfo	standard directory used for created files
.SH "SEE ALSO"
newctime(3), tzfile(5), zdump(8)
.\" This file is in the public domain, so clarified as of
.\" 2009-05-17 by Arthur David Olson.