xref: /netbsd-src/lib/libc/time/zic.8 (revision 18b32cd19a7876a54ee1a4164d407422179e38ed)
1.\" $NetBSD: zic.8,v 1.52 2025/01/23 22:44:22 christos Exp $
2.\" @(#)zic.8	8.6
3.\" This file is in the public domain, so clarified as of
4.\" 2009-05-17 by Arthur David Olson.
5.\" .TH zic 8
6.Dd January 21, 2025
7.Dt ZIC 8
8.Os
9.Sh NAME
10.Nm zic
11.Nd timezone compiler
12.Sh SYNOPSIS
13.Nm
14.Op Fl Fl version
15.Op Fl Fl help
16.Op Fl b
17.Op Fl d Ar directory
18.Op Fl L Ar leapsecondfilename
19.Op Fl l Ar localtime
20.Op Fl p Ar posixrules
21.Op Fl s
22.Op Fl t Ar file
23.Op Fl v
24.Op Fl y Ar command
25.Op Ar
26.Sh DESCRIPTION
27The
28.Nm
29program reads text from the file(s) named on the command line
30and creates the timezone information format (TZif) files
31specified in this input.
32If a
33.Ar file
34is
35.Ql \&\- ,
36standard input is read.
37.Ss Options
38.Bl -tag -width Fl
39.It Fl Fl version
40Output version information and exit.
41.It Fl Fl help
42Output short usage message and exit.
43.It Fl b Ar bloat
44Output backward-compatibility data as specified by
45.Ar bloat .
46If
47.Ar bloat
48is
49.Ql fat ,
50generate additional data entries that work around potential bugs or
51incompatibilities in older software, such as software that mishandles
52the 64-bit generated data.
53If
54.Ar bloat
55is
56.Ql slim ,
57keep the output files small; this can help check for the bugs
58and incompatibilities.
59The default is
60.Ql slim ,
61as software that mishandles 64-bit data typically
62mishandles timestamps after the year 2038 anyway.
63Also see the
64.Fl r
65option for another way to alter output size.
66.It Fl d Ar directory
67Create time conversion information files in the named
68.Ar directory
69rather than in the standard directory named below.
70.It Fl l Ar timezone
71Use the
72.Ar timezone
73as local time.
74.Nm
75will act as if the input contained a link line of the form
76.Pp
77.D1 Li Link Ar timezone Li localtime
78.Pp
79If
80.Ar timezone
81is
82.Ql \&\- ,
83any already-existing link is removed.
84.It Fl L Ar leapsecondfilename
85Read leap second information from the file with the given name.
86If this option is not used,
87no leap second information appears in output files.
88.It Fl p Ar timezone
89Use
90.Ar timezone Ap s
91rules when handling POSIX-format TZ strings like
92.Ql EET\-2EEST
93that lack transition rules.
94.Nm
95will act as if the input contained a link line of the form
96.Pp
97.D1 Li Link Ar timezone Li posixrules
98.Pp
99Unless
100.Ar timezone
101is
102.Ql \&\- ,
103this option is obsolete and poorly supported.
104Among other things it should not be used for timestamps after the year 2037,
105and it should not be combined with
106.Fl b Cm slim
107if
108.Ar timezone Ap s
109transitions are at standard time or Universal Time (UT) instead of local time.
110If
111.Ar timezone
112is
113.Ql \&\- ,
114any already-existing link is removed.
115.It Fl r Op Cm @ Ns Ar lo Ns Op Cm /@ Ns Ar hi
116Limit the applicability of output files
117to timestamps in the range from
118.Ar lo
119(inclusive) to
120.Ar hi
121(exclusive), where
122.Ar lo
123and
124.Ar hi
125are possibly signed decimal counts of seconds since the Epoch
126(1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC).
127Omitted counts default to extreme values.
128The output files use UT offset 0 and abbreviation
129.Ql \&\-00
130in place of the omitted timestamp data.
131For example,
132.Pp
133.Dl zic -r @0
134.Pp
135omits data intended for negative timestamps (i.e., before the Epoch), and
136.Pp
137.Dl zic -r @0/@2147483648
138.Pp
139outputs data intended only for nonnegative timestamps that fit into
14031-bit signed integers.
141Or using
142.Xr date 1 ,
143.Pp
144.Dl zic -r @$(date +%s)
145.Pp
146omits data intended for past timestamps.
147Although this option typically reduces the output file's size,
148the size can increase due to the need to represent the timestamp range
149boundaries, particularly if
150.Ar hi
151causes a TZif file to contain explicit entries for
152.No pre- Ns Ar hi
153transitions rather than concisely representing them
154with a proleptic TZ string.
155Also see the
156.Fl b Cm slim
157option for another way to shrink output size.
158.It Fl R Cm @ Ns Ar hi
159Generate redundant trailing explicit transitions for timestamps
160that occur less than
161.Ar hi
162seconds since the Epoch, even though the transitions could be
163more concisely represented via the proleptic TZ string.
164This option does not affect the represented timestamps.
165Although it accommodates nonstandard TZif readers
166that ignore the proleptic TZ string,
167it increases the size of the altered output files.
168.It Fl t Ar file
169When creating local time information, put the configuration link in
170the named file rather than in the standard location.
171.It Fl v
172Be more verbose, and complain about the following situations:
173.Bl -dash
174.It
175The input specifies a link to a link,
176something not supported by some older parsers, including
177.Nm
178itself through release 2022e.
179.It
180A year that appears in a data file is outside the range
181of representable years.
182.It
183A time of 24:00 or more appears in the input.
184Pre-1998 versions of
185.Nm
186prohibit 24:00, and pre-2007 versions prohibit times greater than 24:00.
187.It
188A rule goes past the start or end of the month.
189Pre-2004 versions of
190.Nm
191prohibit this.
192.It
193A time zone abbreviation uses a
194.Ql %z
195format.
196Pre-2015 versions of
197.Nm
198do not support this.
199.It
200A timestamp contains fractional seconds.
201Pre-2018 versions of
202.Nm
203do not support this.
204.It
205The input contains abbreviations that are mishandled by pre-2018 versions of
206.Nm
207due to a longstanding coding bug.
208These abbreviations include
209.Ql L
210for
211.Ql Link ,
212.Ql mi
213for
214.Ql min ,
215.Ql Sa
216for
217.Ql Sat ,
218and
219.Ql Su
220for
221.Ql Sun .
222.It
223The output file does not contain all the information about the
224long-term future of a timezone, because the future cannot be summarized as
225a proleptic TZ string.
226For example, as of 2023 this problem
227occurs for Morocco's daylight-saving rules, as
228on predictions for when Ramadan will be observed, something that
229a proleptic TZ string cannot represent.
230.It
231The output contains data that may not be handled properly by client
232code designed for older
233.Nm
234output formats.
235These compatibility issues affect only timestamps
236before 1970 or after the start of 2038.
237.It
238The output contains a truncated leap second table,
239which can cause some older TZif readers to misbehave.
240This can occur if the
241.Fl L
242option is used, and either an
243.Ql Expires
244line is present or the
245.Fl r
246option is also used.
247.It
248The output file contains more than 1200 transitions,
249which may be mishandled by some clients.
250The current reference client supports at most 2000 transitions;
251pre-2014 versions of the reference client support at most 1200
252transitions.
253.It
254A time zone abbreviation has fewer than 3 or more than 6 characters.
255POSIX requires at least 3, and requires implementations to support
256at least 6.
257.It
258An output file name contains a byte that is not an ASCII letter,
259.Ql \&\- ,
260.Ql / ,
261or
262.Ql _ ;
263or it contains a file name component that contains more than 14 bytes
264or that starts with
265.Ql \&\- .
266.El
267.El
268.\"
269.Ss Zone description file format
270Input files should be text files, that is, they should be a series of
271zero or more lines, each ending in a newline byte and containing at
272most 2048 bytes counting the newline, and without any
273.Tn NUL
274bytes.
275The input text's encoding
276is typically
277.Tn UTF-8
278or
279.Tn ASCII ;
280it should have a unibyte representation
281for the POSIX Portable Character Set
282.Tn ( PPCS )
283.Pq Lk https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/V1_chap06.html
284and the encoding's non-unibyte characters should consist entirely of
285.No non- Ns Tn PPCS
286bytes.
287.No Non- Ns Tn PPCS
288characters typically occur only in comments:
289although output file names and time zone abbreviations can contain
290nearly any character, other software will work better if these are
291limited to the restricted syntax described under the
292.Fl v
293option.
294.Pp
295Input lines are made up of fields.
296Fields are separated from one another by one or more white space characters.
297The white space characters are space, form feed, carriage return, newline,
298tab, and vertical tab.
299Leading and trailing white space on input lines is ignored.
300An unquoted sharp character
301.Pq Ql #
302in the input introduces a comment which extends
303to the end of the line the sharp character appears on.
304White space characters and sharp characters may be enclosed in double
305quotes
306.Pq Ql \*q
307if they're to be used as part of a field.
308Any line that is blank (after comment stripping) is ignored.
309Nonblank lines are expected to be of one of three types:
310rule lines, zone lines, and link lines.
311.Pp
312Names must be in English and are case insensitive.
313They appear in several contexts, and include month and weekday names
314and keywords such as
315.Ql maximum ,
316.Ql only ,
317.Ql Rolling ,
318and
319.Ql Zone .
320A name can be abbreviated by omitting all but an initial prefix; any
321abbreviation must be unambiguous in context.
322.\"
323.\" Rule Line
324.\"
325.Pp
326A
327.Sy rule line
328has the form
329.Pp
330.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "Rule" "NAME" "FROM" "1995" "\&*" "Apr" "lastSun" "2:00w" "1:00d" "LETTER/S"
331.It Rule	NAME	FROM	TO	\&\-	IN	ON	AT	SAVE	LETTER/S
332.El
333.Pp
334For example:
335.Pp
336.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "Rule" "NAME" "FROM" "1995" "\&*" "Apr" "lastSun" "2:00w" "1:00d" "LETTER/S"
337.It Rule	US	1967	1973	\&\-	Apr	lastSun	2:00w	1:00d	D
338.El
339.Pp
340The fields that make up a rule line are:
341.Bl -tag -width Ar
342.\"
343.It Ar NAME
344Gives the name of the rule set that contains this line.
345The name must start with a character that is neither an
346.Tn ASCII
347digit nor
348.Ql \&\-
349nor
350.Ql + .
351To allow for future extensions,
352an unquoted name should not contain characters from the set
353.Ql !$%&'()*,/:;<=>?@[\e]^`{|}~ .
354.\"
355.It Ar FROM
356Gives the first year in which the rule applies.
357Any signed integer year can be supplied; the proleptic Gregorian calendar
358is assumed, with year 0 preceding year 1.
359Rules can describe times that are not representable as time values,
360with the unrepresentable times ignored; this allows rules to be portable
361among hosts with differing time value types.
362.\"
363.It Ar TO
364Gives the final year in which the rule applies.
365The word
366.Ql maximum
367(or an abbreviation) means the indefinite future, and the word
368.Ql only
369(or an abbreviation)
370may be used to repeat the value of the
371.Ar FROM
372field.
373.\"
374.It Cm \&\-
375should always be
376.Ql \&\-
377for compatibility with older versions of
378.Nm .
379It was previously known as the
380.Ar TYPE
381field, which could contain values to allow a
382separate script to further restrict in which
383.Qq types
384of years the rule would apply.
385.\"
386.It Ar IN
387Names the month in which the rule takes effect.
388Month names may be abbreviated as mentioned previously;
389for example, January can appear as
390.Dq January ,
391.Dq JANU
392+or
393.Dq Ja ,
394but not as
395.Dq j
396which would be ambiguous with both June and July.
397.\"
398.It Ar ON
399Gives the day on which the rule takes effect.
400Recognized forms include:
401.Pp
402.Bl -tag -width Li -offset indent -compact
403.It Li 5
404the fifth of the month
405.It Li lastSun
406the last Sunday in the month
407.It Li lastMon
408the last Monday in the month
409.It Li Sun>=8
410first Sunday on or after the eighth
411.It Li Sun<=25
412last Sunday on or before the 25th
413.El
414.Pp
415Names of days of the week may be abbreviated or spelled out in full.
416A weekday name (e.g.,
417.Ql Sunday )
418or a weekday name preceded by
419.Ql last
420(e.g.,
421.Ql lastSunday )
422may be abbreviated or spelled out in full.
423may be abbreviated as mentioned previously,
424e.g.,
425.Dq Su
426for Sunday and
427.Dq lastsa
428for the last Saturday.
429There must be no white space characters within the
430.Ar ON
431field.
432The
433.Ql <=
434and
435.Ql >=
436constructs can result in a day in the neighboring month;
437for example, the IN\(enON combination
438.Ql "Oct Sun>=31"
439stands for the first Sunday on or after October 31,
440even if that Sunday occurs in November.
441.\"
442.It Ar AT
443Gives the time of day at which the rule takes effect,
444relative to 00:00, the start of a calendar day.
445Recognized forms include:
446.Pp
447.Bl -tag -width Li -compact -offset indent
448.It Li 2
449time in hours
450.It Li 2:00
451time in hours and minutes
452.It Li 01:28:14
453time in hours, minutes, and seconds
454.It Li 00:19:32.13
455time with fractional seconds
456.It Li 12:00
457midday, 12 hours after 00:00
458.It Li 15:00
4593
460.Tn PM ,
46115 hours after 00:00
462.It Li 24:00
463end of day, 24 hours after 00:00
464.It Li 260:00
465260 hours after 00:00
466.It Li \-2:30
4672.5 hours before 00:00
468.It Li \-
469equivalent to 0
470.El
471.Pp
472Although
473.Nm
474rounds times to the nearest integer second
475(breaking ties to the even integer), the fractions may be useful
476to other applications requiring greater precision.
477The source format does not specify any maximum precision.
478Any of these forms may be followed by the letter
479.Ql w
480if the given time is local or
481.Dq wall clock
482time,
483.Ql s
484if the given time is standard time without any adjustment for daylight saving,
485or
486.Ql u
487(or
488.Ql g
489or
490.Ql z )
491if the given time is universal time;
492in the absence of an indicator,
493local (wall clock) time is assumed.
494These forms ignore leap seconds; for example,
495if a leap second occurs at 00:59:60 local time,
496.Ql "1:00"
497stands for 3601 seconds after local midnight instead of the usual 3600 seconds.
498The intent is that a rule line describes the instants when a
499clock/calendar set to the type of time specified in the
500.Ar AT
501field would show the specified date and time of day.
502.\"
503.It Ar SAVE
504Gives the amount of time to be added to local standard time when the rule is in
505effect, and whether the resulting time is standard or daylight saving.
506This field has the same format as the
507.Ar AT
508field, except with a different set of suffix letters:
509.Ql s
510for standard time and
511.Ql d
512for daylight saving time.
513The suffix letter is typically omitted, and defaults to
514.Ql s
515if the offset is zero and to
516.Ql d
517otherwise.
518Negative offsets are allowed; in Ireland, for example, daylight saving
519time is observed in winter and has a negative offset relative to
520Irish Standard Time.
521The offset is merely added to standard time; for example,
522.Nm
523does not distinguish a 10:30 standard time plus an 0:30
524.Ar SAVE
525from a 10:00 standard time plus a 1:00
526.Ar SAVE .
527.\"
528.It Ar LETTER/S
529Gives the
530.Dq variable part
531(for example, the
532.Ql S
533or
534.Ql D
535in
536.Ql EST
537or
538.Ql EDT )
539of time zone abbreviations to be used when this rule is in effect.
540If this field is
541.Ql \&\- ,
542the variable part is null.
543.El
544.\"
545.\" Zone Line
546.\"
547.Pp
548A
549.Sy zone line
550has the form:
551.Pp
552.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "Zone" "Asia/Amman" "STDOFF" "RULES/SAVE" "FORMAT" "[UNTIL]"
553Zone	NAME	STDOFF	RULES/SAVE	FORMAT	[UNTIL]
554.El
555.Pp
556For example:
557.Pp
558.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "Zone" "Asia/Amman" "STDOFF" "RULES/SAVE" "FORMAT" "[UNTIL"]
559Zone	Asia/Amman	2:00	Jordan	EE%sT	2017 Oct 27 1:00
560.El
561.Pp
562The fields that make up a zone line are:
563.Bl -tag -width Ar
564.It Ar NAME
565The name of the timezone.
566This is the name used in creating the time conversion information file for the
567timezone.
568It should not contain a file name component
569.Ql \&.
570or
571.Ql \&.. ;
572a file name component is a maximal substring that does not contain
573.Ql / .
574.\"
575.It Ar STDOFF
576The amount of time to add to UT to get standard time,
577without any adjustment for daylight saving.
578This field has the same format as the
579.Ar AT
580and
581.Ar SAVE
582fields of rule lines, except without suffix letters;
583begin the field with a minus sign if time must be subtracted from UT.
584.\"
585.It Ar RULES
586The name of the rules that apply in the timezone or,
587alternatively, a field in the same format as a rule-line
588.Ar SAVE
589field, giving the amount of time to be added to local standard time
590and whether the resulting time is standard or daylight saving.
591or for timestamps occurring before any rule takes effect.
592Standard time applies if this field is
593.Ql \&\-
594or for timestamps occurring before any rule takes effect.
595When an amount of time is given, only the sum of standard time and
596this amount matters.
597.It Ar FORMAT
598The format for time zone abbreviations.
599The pair of characters
600.Ql %s
601shows where to put the time zone abbreviation's variable part,
602which is taken from the
603.Ar LETTER/S
604field of the corresponding rule;
605any timestamps that precede the earliest rule use the
606.Ar LETTER/S
607of the earliest standard-time rule (which in this case must exist).
608Alternatively, a format can use the pair of characters
609.Ql %z
610to stand for the UT offset in the form
611.Pf \(+- Em \^hh ,
612.Pf \(+- Em \^hhmm ,
613or
614.Pf \(+- Em \^hhmmss ,
615using the shortest form that does not lose information, where
616.Em hh ,
617.Em mm ,
618and
619.Em ss
620are the hours, minutes, and seconds east
621.Pq \&+
622or west
623.Pq \&\-
624of UT.
625Alternatively,
626a slash
627.Pq Ql \&/
628separates standard and daylight abbreviations.
629To conform to POSIX, a time zone abbreviation should contain only
630alphanumeric
631.Tn ASCII
632characters,
633.Ql +
634and
635.Ql \&\- .
636By convention, the time zone abbreviation
637.Ql \&\-00
638is a placeholder that means local time is unspecified.
639.\"
640.It Ar UNTIL
641The time at which the UT offset or the rule(s) change for a location.
642It takes the form of one to four fields
643.Ar YEAR Oo
644.Ar MONTH Oo
645.Ar DAY Oo
646.Ar TIME
647.Oc Oc Oc .
648If this is specified,
649the time zone information is generated from the given UT offset
650and rule change until the time specified, which is interpreted using
651the rules in effect just before the transition.
652The month, day, and time of day have the same format as the
653.Ar IN ,
654.Ar ON ,
655and
656.Ar AT
657fields of a rule; trailing fields can be omitted, and default to the
658earliest possible value for the missing fields.
659.Pp
660The next line must be a
661.Sy continuation line ;
662this has the same form as a zone line except that the string
663.Ql Zone
664and the name are omitted, as the continuation line will
665place information starting at the time specified as the
666.Ar UNTIL
667information in the previous line in the file used by the previous line.
668Continuation lines may contain
669.Ar UNTIL
670information, just as zone lines do, indicating that the next line is a further
671continuation.
672.El
673.Pp
674If a zone changes at the same instant that a rule would otherwise take
675effect in the earlier zone or continuation line, the rule is ignored.
676A zone or continuation line
677.Em L
678with a named rule set starts with standard time by default:
679that is, any of
680.Em L Ap s
681timestamps preceding
682.Em L Ap s
683earliest rule use the rule in effect after
684.Em L Ap s
685first transition into standard time.
686In a single zone it is an error if two rules take effect at the same
687instant, or if two zone changes take effect at the same instant.
688.Pp
689If a continuation line subtracts
690.Ar N
691seconds from the UT offset after a transition that would be
692interpreted to be later if using the continuation line's UT offset and
693rules, the
694.Ar UNTIL
695time of the previous zone or continuation line is interpreted
696according to the continuation line's UT offset and rules, and any rule
697that would otherwise take effect in the next
698.Ar N
699seconds is instead assumed to take effect simultaneously.
700For example:
701.Pp
702.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "# Rule" "NAME" "FROM" "2006" "\&\-" "Oct" "lastSun" "1:00" "SAVE" "LETTER/S"
703.It # Rule	NAME	FROM	TO	\&\-	IN	ON	AT	SAVE	LETTER/S
704.It Rule	US	1967	2006	\&\-	Oct	lastSun	2:00	0	S
705.It Rule	US	1967	1973	\&\-	Apr	lastSun	2:00	1:00	D
706.El
707.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "# Zone" "America/Menominee" "STDOFF" "RULES" "FORMAT" "[UNTIL]"
708.It # Zone	NAME	STDOFF	RULES	FORMAT	[UNTIL]
709.It Zone	America/Menominee	\&\-5:00	\&\-	EST	1973 Apr 29 2:00
710.It \&	\&	\&\-6:00	US	C%sT
711.El
712.Pp
713Here, an incorrect reading would be there were two clock changes on 1973-04-29,
714the first from 02:00 EST (\&\-05) to 01:00 CST (\&\-06),
715and the second an hour later from 02:00 CST (\&\-06) to 03:00 CDT (\&\-05).
716However,
717.Nm
718interprets this more sensibly as a single transition from 02:00 CST (\&\-05) to
71902:00 CDT (\&\-05).
720.\"
721.\" Link Line
722.\"
723.Pp
724A
725.Sy link line
726has the form
727.Pp
728.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "Link" "Europe/Istanbul" "Asia/Istanbul"
729.It Link	TARGET	LINK-NAME
730.El
731.Pp
732For example:
733.Pp
734.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "Link" "Europe/Istanbul" "Asia/Istanbul"
735.It Link	Europe/Istanbul	Asia/Istanbul
736.El
737.Pp
738The
739.Ar TARGET
740field should appear as the
741.Ar NAME
742field in some zone line or as the
743.Ar LINK-NAME
744field in some link line.
745The
746.Ar LINK-NAME
747field is used as an alternative name for that zone;
748it has the same syntax as a zone line's
749.Ar NAME
750field.
751Links can chain together, although the behavior is unspecified if a
752chain of one or more links does not terminate in a Zone name.
753A link line can appear before the line that defines the link target.
754For example:
755.Bl -column -offset indent "Link" "Greenwich" "Greenwich"
756.It Link	Greenwich	G_M_T
757.It Link	Etc/GMT	Greenwich
758.It Zone	Etc/GMT 0	\- GMT
759.El
760.Pp
761The two links are chained together, and G_M_T, Greenwich, and Etc/GMT
762all name the same zone.
763.Pp
764Except for continuation lines,
765lines may appear in any order in the input.
766However, the behavior is unspecified if multiple zone or link lines
767define the same name.
768.\"
769.Ss Leap second file format
770The file that describes leap seconds can have leap lines and an
771expiration line.
772.\"
773.\" Leap Line
774.\"
775.Sy Leap lines
776have the following form:
777.Pp
778.Bl -column -compat -offset indent "Leap" "YEAR" "MONTH" "DAY" "HH:MM:SS" "CORR""R/S"
779.It Leap	YEAR	MONTH	DAY	HH:MM:SS	CORR	R/S
780.El
781.Pp
782For example:
783.Pp
784.Bl -column -compat -offset indent "Leap" "YEAR" "MONTH" "DAY" "HH:MM:SS" "CORR""R/S"
785.It Leap	2016	Dec	31	23:59:60	+	S
786.El
787.Pp
788The
789.Ar YEAR ,
790.Ar MONTH ,
791.Ar DAY ,
792and
793.Ar HH:MM:SS
794fields tell when the leap second happened.
795The
796.Ar CORR
797field
798should be
799.Ql \&+
800if a second was added or
801.Ql \&\-
802if a second was skipped.
803The
804.Ar R/S
805field
806should be (an abbreviation of)
807.Ql Stationary
808if the leap second time given by the other fields should be interpreted as UTC
809or
810(an abbreviation of)
811.Ql Rolling
812if the leap second time given by the other fields should be interpreted as
813local (wall clock) time.
814.Pp
815Rolling leap seconds would let one see
816Times Square ball drops where there'd be a
817.Qq 3... 2... 1... leap... Happy New Year
818countdown, placing the leap second at
819midnight New York time rather than midnight UTC.
820Although stationary leap seconds are the common practice,
821rolling leap seconds can be useful in specialized applications
822like SMPTE timecodes that may prefer to put leap second
823discontinuities at the end of a local broadcast day.
824However, rolling leap seconds are not supported if the
825.Fl r
826option is used.
827.\"
828.\" Expiration Line
829.\"
830.Pp
831The
832.Sy expiration line ,
833if present, has the form:
834.Pp
835.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "Expires" "YEAR" "MONTH" "DAY" "HH:MM:SS"
836.It Expires	YEAR	MONTH	DAY	HH:MM:SS
837.El
838.Pp
839For example:
840.Pp
841.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "Expires" "YEAR" "MONTH" "DAY" "HH:MM:SS"
842.It Expires	2020	Dec	28	00:00:00
843.El
844.Pp
845The
846.Em YEAR ,
847.Em MONTH ,
848.Em DAY ,
849and
850.Em HH:MM:SS
851fields give the expiration timestamp in UTC for the leap second table.
852.Sh EXTENDED EXAMPLE
853Here is an extended example of
854.Ic zic
855input, intended to illustrate many of its features.
856.Pp
857.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "# Rule" "Swiss" "FROM" "1995" "\&*" "Oct" "lastSun" "1:00u" "SAVE" "LETTER/S"
858.It # Rule	NAME	FROM	TO	\&\-	IN	ON	AT	SAVE	LETTER/S
859.It Rule	Swiss	1941	1942	\&\-	May	Mon>=1	1:00	1:00	S
860.It Rule	Swiss	1941	1942	\&\-	Oct	Mon>=1	2:00	0	\-
861.Pp
862.It Rule	EU	1977	1980	\&\-	Apr	Sun>=1	1:00u	1:00	S
863.It Rule	EU	1977	only	\&\-	Sep	lastSun	1:00u	0	\-
864.It Rule	EU	1978	only	\&\-	Oct	 1	1:00u	0	\-
865.It Rule	EU	1979	1995	\&\-	Sep	lastSun	1:00u	0	\-
866.It Rule	EU	1981	max	\&\-	Mar	lastSun	1:00u	1:00	S
867.It Rule	EU	1996	max	\&\-	Oct	lastSun	1:00u	0	\-
868.El
869.Pp
870.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "# Zone" "Europe/Zurich" "0:29:45.50" "RULES/SAVE" "FORMAT" "UNTIL"
871.It # Zone	NAME	STDOFF	RULES/SAVE	FORMAT	[UNTIL]
872.It Zone	Europe/Zurich	0:34:08	\&\-	LMT	1853 Jul 16
873.It 		0:29:45.50	\&\-	BMT	1894 Jun
874.It 		1:00	Swiss	CE%sT	1981
875.It 		1:00	EU	CE%sT
876.Pp
877.El
878.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "# Zone" "Europe/Zurich" "0:34:08" "RULES/SAVE" "FORMAT" "UNTIL"
879.It Link	Europe/Zurich	Europe/Vaduz
880.El
881.Pp
882In this example, the EU rules are for the European Union
883and for its predecessor organization, the European Communities.
884The timezone is named Europe/Zurich and it has the alias Europe/Vaduz.
885This example says that Zurich was 34 minutes and 8
886seconds east of UT until 1853-07-16 at 00:00, when the legal offset
887was changed to 7\(de\|26\(fm\|22.50\(sd; which this works out to
8880:29:45.50;
889.Nm
890treats this by rounding it to 0:29:46.
891After 1894-06-01 at 00:00 the UT offset became one hour
892and Swiss daylight saving rules (defined with lines beginning with
893.Qq "Rule Swiss"
894apply.
895From 1981 to the present, EU daylight saving rules have
896applied, and the UTC offset has remained at one hour.
897.Pp
898In 1941 and 1942, daylight saving time applied from the first Monday
899in May at 01:00 to the first Monday in October at 02:00.
900The pre-1981 EU daylight-saving rules have no effect
901here, but are included for completeness.
902Since 1981, daylight
903saving has begun on the last Sunday in March at 01:00 UTC.
904Until 1995 it ended the last Sunday in September at 01:00 UTC,
905but this changed to the last Sunday in October starting in 1996.
906.Pp
907For purposes of display,
908.Qq LMT
909and
910.Qq BMT
911were initially used, respectively.
912Since
913Swiss rules and later EU rules were applied, the time zone abbreviation
914has been CET for standard time and CEST for daylight saving
915time.
916.Sh FILES
917Input files use the format described in this section; output files use
918.Xr tzfile 5
919format.
920.Bl -tag -width Pa -compact
921.It Pa /etc/localtime
922Default local timezone file
923.It Pa /usr/share/zoneinfo
924Default timezone information directory
925.El
926.Sh NOTES
927For areas with more than two types of local time,
928you may need to use local standard time in the
929.Ar AT
930field of the earliest transition time's rule to ensure that
931the earliest transition time recorded in the compiled file is correct.
932.Pp
933If,
934for a particular timezone,
935a clock advance caused by the start of daylight saving
936coincides with and is equal to
937a clock retreat caused by a change in UT offset,
938.Nm
939produces a single transition to daylight saving at the new UT offset
940without any change in local (wall clock) time.
941To get separate transitions
942use multiple zone continuation lines
943specifying transition instants using universal time.
944.Sh SEE ALSO
945.Xr tzfile 5 ,
946.Xr zdump 8
947