xref: /netbsd-src/lib/libc/time/zic.8 (revision 1e7378f887e5c0091a4c604388084a71508c7dca)
1.\"	$NetBSD: zic.8,v 1.40 2022/10/29 13:55:50 christos Exp $
2.Dd August 24, 2022
3.Dt ZIC 8
4.Os
5.Sh NAME
6.Nm zic
7.Nd timezone compiler
8.Sh SYNOPSIS
9.Nm
10.Op Fl \-version
11.Op Fl \-help
12.Op Fl b
13.Op Fl d Ar directory
14.Op Fl L Ar leapsecondfilename
15.Op Fl l Ar localtime
16.Op Fl p Ar posixrules
17.Op Fl s
18.Op Fl t Ar file
19.Op Fl v
20.Op Fl y Ar command
21.Op Ar Filename ...
22.Sh DESCRIPTION
23The
24.Nm
25program reads text from the file(s) named on the command line
26and creates the timezone information format (TZif) files
27specified in this input.
28If a
29.Ar filename
30is
31.Ar \&- ,
32standard input is read.
33.Pp
34.Sh OPTIONS
35.Bl -tag -width XXXXXXXXXX -compact
36.It Fl \-version
37Output version information and exit.
38.It Fl \-help
39Output short usage message and exit.
40.It Fl b Ar bloat
41Output backward-compatibility data as specified by
42.Ar bloat .
43If
44.Ar bloat
45is
46.Dv fat ,
47generate additional data entries that work around potential bugs or
48incompatibilities in older software, such as software that mishandles
49the 64-bit generated data.
50If
51.Ar bloat
52is
53.Dv slim ,
54keep the output files small; this can help check for the bugs
55and incompatibilities.
56The default is
57.Dv slim ,
58as software that mishandles 64-bit data typically
59mishandles timestamps after the year 2038 anyway.
60Also see the
61.Fl r
62option for another way to alter output size.
63.It Fl d Ar directory
64Create time conversion information files in the named directory rather than
65in the standard directory named below.
66.It Fl l Ar timezone
67Use the
68.Ar timezone
69as local time.
70.Nm
71will act as if the input contained a link line of the form
72.Dl Link	timezone	localtime
73If
74.Ar timezone
75is
76.Dv \&- ,
77any already-existing link is removed.
78.It Fl L Ar leapsecondfilename
79Read leap second information from the file with the given name.
80If this option is not used,
81no leap second information appears in output files.
82.It Fl p Ar timezone
83Use
84.Ar timezone's
85rules when handling POSIX-format
86TZ strings like
87.Qq EET\&-2EEST
88that lack transition rules.
89.Nm
90will act as if the input contained a link line of the form
91.Dl Link	timezone	posixrules
92.Pp
93This feature is obsolete and poorly supported.
94Among other things it should not be used for timestamps after the year 2037,
95and it should not be combined with
96.Fl b Ar slim
97if
98.Va timezone's
99transitions are at standard time or Universal Time (UT) instead of local time.
100If
101.Ar timezone
102is
103.Dv \&- ,
104any already-existing link is removed.
105.It Fl r Op Ar @lo / Op Ar @hi
106Limit the applicability of output files
107to timestamps in the range from
108.Ar lo
109(inclusive) to
110.Ar hi
111(exclusive), where
112.Ar lo
113and
114.Ar hi
115are possibly-signed decimal counts of seconds since the Epoch
116(1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC).
117Omitted counts default to extreme values.
118The output files use UT offset 0 and abbreviation
119.q "\*-00"
120in place of the omitted timestamp data.
121For example,
122.Bd -literal
123zic -r @0
124.Ed
125omits data intended for negative timestamps (i.e., before the Epoch), and
126.Bd -literal
127zic -r @0/@2147483648
128.Ed
129outputs data intended only for nonnegative timestamps that fit into
13031-bit signed integers.
131Or using
132.Xr date 1 ,
133.Bd -literal
134zic -r @$(date +%s)
135.Ed
136omits data intended for past timestamps.
137Although this option typically reduces the output file's size,
138the size can increase due to the need to represent the timestamp range
139boundaries, particularly if
140.Ar hi
141causes a TZif file to contain explicit entries for
142.Ar pre- hi
143transitions rather than concisely representing them
144with an extended POSIX TZ string.
145Also see the
146.Fl b Ar slim
147option for another way to shrink output size.
148.It Fl R Ar @hi
149Generate redundant trailing explicit transitions for timestamps
150that occur less than
151Ar hi
152seconds since the Epoch, even though the transitions could be
153more concisely represented via the extended POSIX TZ string.
154This option does not affect the represented timestamps.
155Although it accommodates nonstandard TZif readers
156that ignore the extended POSIX TZ string,
157it increases the size of the altered output files.
158.It Fl t Ar file
159When creating local time information, put the configuration link in
160the named file rather than in the standard location.
161.It Fl v
162Be more verbose, and complain about the following situations:
163.Bl -dash
164.It
165+The input specifies a link to a link,
166something not supported by some older parsers, including
167.Nm
168itself through release 2022e.
169.It
170A year that appears in a data file is outside the range
171of representable years.
172.It
173A time of 24:00 or more appears in the input.
174Pre-1998 versions of
175.Nm
176prohibit 24:00, and pre-2007 versions prohibit times greater than 24:00.
177.It
178A rule goes past the start or end of the month.
179Pre-2004 versions of
180.Nm
181prohibit this.
182.It
183A time zone abbreviation uses a
184.Dv %z
185format.
186Pre-2015 versions of
187.Nm
188do not support this.
189.It
190A timestamp contains fractional seconds.
191Pre-2018 versions of
192.Nm
193do not support this.
194.It
195The input contains abbreviations that are mishandled by pre-2018 versions of
196.Nm
197due to a longstanding coding bug.
198These abbreviations include
199.Qq L
200for
201.Qq Link ,
202.Qq mi
203for
204.Qq min ,
205.Qq Sa
206for
207.Qq Sat ,
208and
209.Qq Su
210for
211.Qq Sun .
212.It
213The output file does not contain all the information about the
214long-term future of a timezone, because the future cannot be summarized as
215an extended POSIX TZ string.
216For example, as of 2019 this problem
217occurs for Iran's daylight-saving rules for the predicted future, as
218these rules are based on the Iranian calendar, which cannot be
219represented.
220.It
221The output contains data that may not be handled properly by client
222code designed for older
223.Xr zic 8
224output formats.
225These compatibility issues affect only timestamps
226before 1970 or after the start of 2038.
227.It
228The output contains a truncated leap second table,
229which can cause some older TZif readers to misbehave.
230This can occur if the
231.Fl L
232option is used, and either an Expires line is present or
233the
234.Fl r
235option is also used.
236.It
237The output file contains more than 1200 transitions,
238which may be mishandled by some clients.
239The current reference client supports at most 2000 transitions;
240pre-2014 versions of the reference client support at most 1200
241transitions.
242.It
243A time zone abbreviation has fewer than 3 or more than 6 characters.
244POSIX requires at least 3, and requires implementations to support
245at least 6.
246.It
247An output file name contains a byte that is not an ASCII letter,
248.Qq - ,
249.Qq / ,
250or
251.Qq _ ;
252or it
253or it contains a file name component that contains more than 14 bytes
254or that starts with
255.Qq - .
256.El
257.El
258.Pp
259Input files should be text files, that is, they should be a series of
260zero or more lines, each ending in a newline byte and containing at
261most 2048 bytes counting the newline, and without any
262.Dv NUL
263bytes.
264The input text's encoding
265is typically UTF-8 or ASCII; it should have a unibyte representation
266for the POSIX Portable Character Set (PPCS)
267.Rs
268.%U https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/V1_chap06.html
269.Re
270and the encoding's non-unibyte characters should consist entirely of
271non-PPCS bytes.
272Non-PPCS characters typically occur only in comments:
273although output file names and time zone abbreviations can contain
274nearly any character, other software will work better if these are
275limited to the restricted syntax described under the
276.Op v
277option.
278.Pp
279Input lines are made up of fields.
280Fields are separated from one another by one or more white space characters.
281The white space characters are space, form feed, carriage return, newline,
282tab, and vertical tab.
283Leading and trailing white space on input lines is ignored.
284An unquoted sharp character (#) in the input introduces a comment which extends
285to the end of the line the sharp character appears on.
286White space characters and sharp characters may be enclosed in double
287quotes
288.Pq \&"
289.\" XXX "
290if they're to be used as part of a field.
291Any line that is blank (after comment stripping) is ignored.
292Nonblank lines are expected to be of one of three types:
293rule lines, zone lines, and link lines.
294.Pp
295Names must be in English and are case insensitive.
296They appear in several contexts, and include month and weekday names
297and keywords such as
298.Qq maximum ,
299.Qq only ,
300.Qq Rolling ,
301and
302.Qq Zone .
303A name can be abbreviated by omitting all but an initial prefix; any
304abbreviation must be unambiguous in context.
305.Pp
306A rule line has the form
307.Pp
308.Dl Rule	NAME	FROM	TO	\&-	IN	ON		AT		SAVE		LETTER/S
309.Pp
310For example:
311.Pp
312.Dl Rule	US	1967	1973	\&-	Apr	lastSun	2:00w	1:00d	D
313.Pp
314The fields that make up a rule line are:
315.Bl -tag -width "LETTER/S"
316.It NAME
317Gives the name of the rule set that contains this line.
318The name must start with a character that is neither
319an ASCII digit nor
320.Ar \&-
321nor
322.Ar + .
323To allow for future extensions,
324an unquoted name should not contain characters from the set
325.Ar !$%&'()*,/:;<=>?@[\e]^`{|}~ .
326.It FROM
327Gives the first year in which the rule applies.
328Any signed integer year can be supplied; the proleptic Gregorian calendar
329is assumed, with year 0 preceding year 1.
330The word
331.Em minimum
332(or an abbreviation) means the indefinite past.
333The word
334.Em maximum
335(or an abbreviation) means the indefinite future.
336Rules can describe times that are not representable as time values,
337with the unrepresentable times ignored; this allows rules to be portable
338among hosts with differing time value types.
339.It TO
340Gives the final year in which the rule applies.
341In addition to
342.Em minimum
343and
344.Em maximum
345(as above),
346the word
347.Em only
348(or an abbreviation)
349may be used to repeat the value of the
350.Em FROM
351field.
352.It \&-
353should be
354.Qq \&-
355for compatibility with older versions of
356.Nm .
357It was previously known as the
358.Em TYPE
359field, which could contain values to allow a
360separate script to further restrict in which
361.Em types
362of years the rule would apply.
363.It IN
364Names the month in which the rule takes effect.
365Month names may be abbreviated.
366.It ON
367Gives the day on which the rule takes effect.
368Recognized forms include:
369.Pp
370.Bl -tag -width lastSun -compact -offset indent
371.It 5
372the fifth of the month
373.It lastSun
374the last Sunday in the month
375.It lastMon
376the last Monday in the month
377.It Sun\*[Ge]8
378first Sunday on or after the eighth
379.It Sun\*[Le]25
380last Sunday on or before the 25th
381.El
382.Pp
383Names of days of the week may be abbreviated or spelled out in full.
384A weekday name (e.g.,
385.Qq Sunday )
386or a weekday name preceded by
387.Qq last
388(e.g.,
389.Qq lastSunday )
390may be abbreviated or spelled out in full.
391There must be no white space characters within the
392.Em ON
393field.
394The
395.Qq <=
396and
397.Qq >=
398constructs can result in a day in the neighboring month;
399for example, the IN-ON combination
400.Qq "Oct Sun>=31"
401tands for the first Sunday on or after October 31,
402even if that Sunday occurs in November.
403.It AT
404Gives the time of day at which the rule takes effect,
405relative to 00:00, the start of a calendar day.
406Recognized forms include:
407.Pp
408.Bl -tag -width "00X19X32X13" -compact -offset indent
409.It 2
410time in hours
411.It 2:00
412time in hours and minutes
413.It 01:28:14
414time in hours, minutes, and seconds
415.It 00:19:32.13
416time with fractional seconds
417.It 12:00
418midday, 12 hours after 00:00
419.It 15:00
4203 PM, 15 hours after 00:00
421.It 24:00
422end of day, 24 hours after 00:00
423.It 260:00
424260 hours after 00:00
425.It \-2:30
4262.5 hours before 00:00
427.It \-
428equivalent to 0
429.El
430.Pp
431Although
432.I zic
433rounds times to the nearest integer second
434(breaking ties to the even integer), the fractions may be useful
435to other applications requiring greater precision.
436The source format does not specify any maximum precision.
437Any of these forms may be followed by the letter
438.Em w
439if the given time is local or
440.Qq wall clock
441time,
442.Em s
443if the given time is standard time without any adjustment for daylight saving,
444or
445.Em u
446(or
447.Em g
448or
449.Em z )
450if the given time is universal time;
451in the absence of an indicator,
452local (wall clock) time is assumed.
453These forms ignore leap seconds; for example,
454if a leap second occurs at 00:59:60 local time,
455.q "1:00"
456stands for 3601 seconds after local midnight instead of the usual 3600 seconds.
457The intent is that a rule line describes the instants when a
458clock/calendar set to the type of time specified in the
459.Em AT
460field would show the specified date and time of day.
461.It SAVE
462Gives the amount of time to be added to local standard time when the rule is in
463effect, and whether the resulting time is standard or daylight saving.
464This field has the same format as the
465.Em AT
466field
467.Em s
468for standard time and
469.Em d
470for daylight saving time.
471The suffix letter is typically omitted, and defaults to
472.Em s
473if the offset is zero and to
474.Em d
475otherwise.
476Negative offsets are allowed; in Ireland, for example, daylight saving
477time is observed in winter and has a negative offset relative to
478Irish Standard Time.
479The offset is merely added to standard time; for example,
480.Nm
481does not distinguish a 10:30 standard time plus an 0:30
482.Em SAVE
483from a 10:00 standard time plus a 1:00
484.Em SAVE .
485.It LETTER/S
486Gives the
487.Qq variable part
488(for example, the
489.Qq S
490or
491.Qq D
492in
493.Qq EST
494or
495.Qq EDT )
496of time zone abbreviations to be used when this rule is in effect.
497If this field is
498.Em \&- ,
499the variable part is null.
500.El
501.Pp
502A zone line has the form
503.Pp
504.Dl Zone	NAME			STDOFF	RULES/SAVE	FORMAT	[UNTIL]
505.Pp
506For example:
507.Pp
508.Dl Zone	Asia/Amman	2:00	Jordan	EE%sT	2017 Oct 27 1:00
509.Pp
510The fields that make up a zone line are:
511.Bl -tag -width "RULES/SAVE"
512.It NAME
513The name of the timezone.
514This is the name used in creating the time conversion information file for the
515timezone.
516It should not contain a file name component
517.Qq .
518or
519.Qq .. ;
520a file name component is a maximal substring that does not contain
521.Qq / .
522.It STDOFF
523The amount of time to add to UT to get standard time,
524without any adjustment for daylight saving.
525This field has the same format as the
526.Em AT
527and
528.Em SAVE
529fields of rule lines, except without suffix letters;
530begin the field with a minus sign if time must be subtracted from UT.
531.It RULES
532The name of the rules that apply in the timezone or,
533alternatively, a field in the same format as a rule-line SAVE column,
534giving the amount of time to be added to local standard time
535and whether the resulting time is standard or daylight saving.
536If this field is
537.Em \&-
538then standard time always applies.
539When an amount of time is given, only the sum of standard time and
540this amount matters.
541.It FORMAT
542The format for time zone abbreviations.
543The pair of characters
544.Em %s
545is used to show where the
546.Qq variable part
547of the time zone abbreviation goes.
548Alternatively, a format can use the pair of characters
549.Em %z
550+to stand for the UT offset in the form
551.Em \(+- hh ,
552.Em \(+- hhmm ,
553or
554.Em \(+- hhmmss ,
555using the shortest form that does not lose information, where
556.Em hh ,
557.Em mm ,
558and
559.Em ss
560are the hours, minutes, and seconds east (+) or west (\-) of UT.
561Alternatively,
562a slash
563.Pq \&/
564separates standard and daylight abbreviations.
565To conform to POSIX, a time zone abbreviation should contain only
566alphanumeric ASCII characters,
567.Qq +
568and
569.Qq \&- .
570By convention, the time zone abbreviation
571.Qq \&-00
572is a placeholder that means local time is unspecified.
573.It UNTIL
574The time at which the UT offset or the rule(s) change for a location.
575It takes the form of one to four fields YEAR [MONTH [DAY [TIME]]].
576If this is specified,
577the time zone information is generated from the given UT offset
578and rule change until the time specified, which is interpreted using
579the rules in effect just before the transition.
580The month, day, and time of day have the same format as the IN, ON, and AT
581fields of a rule; trailing fields can be omitted, and default to the
582earliest possible value for the missing fields.
583.Pp
584The next line must be a
585.Qq continuation
586line; this has the same form as a zone line except that the
587string
588.Qq Zone
589and the name are omitted, as the continuation line will
590place information starting at the time specified as the
591.Em until
592information in the previous line in the file used by the previous line.
593Continuation lines may contain
594.Em until
595information, just as zone lines do, indicating that the next line is a further
596continuation.
597.El
598.Pp
599If a zone changes at the same instant that a rule would otherwise take
600effect in the earlier zone or continuation line, the rule is ignored.
601A zone or continuation line
602.I L
603with a named rule set starts with standard time by default:
604that is, any of
605.IR L 's
606timestamps preceding
607.IR L 's
608earliest rule use the rule in effect after
609.IR L 's
610first transition into standard time.
611In a single zone it is an error if two rules take effect at the same
612instant, or if two zone changes take effect at the same instant.
613.Pp
614If a continuation line subtracts
615.Dv N
616seconds from the UT offset after a transition that would be
617interpreted to be later if using the continuation line's UT offset and
618rules, the
619.Em until
620time of the previous zone or continuation line is interpreted
621according to the continuation line's UT offset and rules, and any rule
622that would otherwise take effect in the next
623.Dv N
624seconds is instead assumed to take effect simultaneously.
625For example:
626.Pp
627.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "# Rule" "Swiss" "FROM" "1995" "\&*" "Oct" "lastSun" "1:00u" "SAVE" "LETTER/S"
628.It # Rule	NAME	FROM	TO	\&-	IN	ON	AT	SAVE	LETTER/S
629.It Rule	US	1967	2006	\&-	Oct	lastSun	2:00	0	S
630.It Rule	US	1967	1973	\&-	Apr	lastSun	2:00	1:00	D
631.It # Zone	NAME				STDOFF	RULES	FORMAT	[UNTIL]
632.It Zone	America/Menominee	\&-5:00	\&-	EST	1973 Apr 29 2:00
633.It						\&-6:00	US	C%sT
634.El
635.Pp
636Here, an incorrect reading would be there were two clock changes on 1973-04-29,
637the first from 02:00 EST (\&-05) to 01:00 CST (\&-06),
638and the second an hour later from 02:00 CST (\&-06) to 03:00 CDT (\&-05).
639However,
640.Nm
641interprets this more sensibly as a single transition from 02:00 CST (\&-05) to
64202:00 CDT (\&-05).
643.Pp
644A link line has the form
645.Pp
646.Dl Link	TARGET			LINK-NAME
647.Pp
648For example:
649.Pp
650.Dl Link	Europe/Istanbul	Asia/Istanbul
651.Pp
652The
653.Em TARGET
654field should appear as the
655.Em NAME
656field in some zone line.
657field in some zone line or as the
658.Em LINK-NAME
659field in some link line.
660The
661.Em LINK-NAME
662field is used as an alternative name for that zone;
663it has the same syntax as a zone line's
664.Em NAME
665field.
666Links can chain together, although the behavior is unspecified if a
667chain of one or more links does not terminate in a Zone name.
668A link line can appear before the line that defines the link target.
669For example:
670.Bl -column -offset indent ".Sy Link" ".Sy Greenwich" ".Sy G_M_T"
671.It Sy Link Ta Sy Greenwich Ta Sy G_M_T
672.It
673.It Link Ta Sy Etc/GMT Ta Sy Greenwich
674.It Zone Ta Sy Etc/GMT 0 Ta Sy Ta Sy \*- GMT
675.El
676The two links are chained together, and G_M_T, Greenwich, and Etc/GMT
677all name the same zone.
678.Pp
679Except for continuation lines,
680lines may appear in any order in the input.
681However, the behavior is unspecified if multiple zone or link lines
682define the same name.
683.Pp
684The file that describes leap seconds can have leap lines and an
685expiration line.
686Leap lines have the following form:
687.Pp
688.Dl Leap	YEAR	MONTH	DAY	HH:MM:SS	CORR	R/S
689.Pp
690For example:
691.Pp
692.Dl Leap	2016	Dec		31	23:59:60	+	S
693.Pp
694The
695.Em YEAR ,
696.Em MONTH ,
697.Em DAY ,
698and
699.Em HH:MM:SS
700fields tell when the leap second happened.
701The
702.Em CORR
703field
704should be
705.Qq \&+
706if a second was added
707or
708.Qq \&-
709if a second was skipped.
710The
711.Em R/S
712field
713should be (an abbreviation of)
714.Qq Stationary
715if the leap second time given by the other fields should be interpreted as UTC
716or
717(an abbreviation of)
718.Qq Rolling
719if the leap second time given by the other fields should be interpreted as
720local (wall clock) time.
721.Pp
722Rolling leap seconds were implemented back when it was not
723clear whether common practice was rolling or stationary,
724with concerns that one would see
725Times Square ball drops where there'd be a
726.Qq 3... 2... 1... leap... Happy New Year
727countdown, placing the leap second at
728midnight New York time rather than midnight UTC.
729However, this countdown style does not seem to have caught on,
730which means rolling leap seconds are not used in practice;
731also, they are not supported if the
732.Fl r
733option is used.
734.Pp
735The expiration line, if present, has the form:
736.Pp
737.Dl Expires	YEAR	MONTH	DAY	HH:MM:SS
738.Pp
739For example:
740.Pp
741.Dl Expires	2020	Dec		28	00:00:00
742.Pp
743The
744.Em YEAR ,
745.Em MONTH ,
746.Em DAY ,
747and
748.Em HH:MM:SS
749fields give the expiration timestamp in UTC for the leap second table.
750.Sh EXTENDED EXAMPLE
751Here is an extended example of
752.Ic zic
753input, intended to illustrate many of its features.
754.Pp
755.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "# Rule" "Swiss" "FROM" "1995" "\&*" "Oct" "lastSun" "1:00u" "SAVE" "LETTER/S"
756.It # Rule	NAME	FROM	TO	\&-	IN	ON	AT	SAVE	LETTER/S
757.It Rule	Swiss	1941	1942	\&-	May	Mon>=1	1:00	1:00	S
758.It Rule	Swiss	1941	1942	\&-	Oct	Mon>=1	2:00	0	-
759.Pp
760.It Rule	EU	1977	1980	\&-	Apr	Sun>=1	1:00u	1:00	S
761.It Rule	EU	1977	only	\&-	Sep	lastSun	1:00u	0	-
762.It Rule	EU	1978	only	\&-	Oct	 1	1:00u	0	-
763.It Rule	EU	1979	1995	\&-	Sep	lastSun	1:00u	0	-
764.It Rule	EU	1981	max	\&-	Mar	lastSun	1:00u	1:00	S
765.It Rule	EU	1996	max	\&-	Oct	lastSun	1:00u	0	-
766.El
767.Pp
768.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "# Zone" "Europe/Zurich" "0:29:45.50" "RULES/SAVE" "FORMAT" "UNTIL"
769.It # Zone	NAME	STDOFF	RULES/SAVE	FORMAT	[UNTIL]
770.It Zone	Europe/Zurich	0:34:08	\&-	LMT	1853 Jul 16
771.It 		0:29:45.50	\&-	BMT	1894 Jun
772.It 		1:00	Swiss	CE%sT	1981
773.It 		1:00	EU	CE%sT
774.Pp
775.El
776.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "# Zone" "Europe/Zurich" "0:34:08" "RULES/SAVE" "FORMAT" "UNTIL"
777.It Link	Europe/Zurich	Europe/Vaduz
778.El
779.Pp
780In this example, the EU rules are for the European Union
781and for its predecessor organization, the European Communities.
782The timezone is named Europe/Zurich and it has the alias Europe/Vaduz.
783This example says that Zurich was 34 minutes and 8
784seconds east of UT until 1853-07-16 at 00:00, when the legal offset
785was changed to 7\(de\|26\(fm\|22.50\(sd; which this works out to
7860:29:45.50;
787.Nm
788treats this by rounding it to 0:29:46.
789After 1894-06-01 at 00:00 the UT offset became one hour
790and Swiss daylight saving rules (defined with lines beginning with
791.Qq "Rule Swiss"
792apply.
793From 1981 to the present, EU daylight saving rules have
794From 1981 to the present, EU daylight saving rules have
795.Pp
796In 1941 and 1942, daylight saving time applied from the first Monday
797in May at 01:00 to the first Monday in October at 02:00.
798The pre-1981 EU daylight-saving rules have no effect
799here, but are included for completeness.
800Since 1981, daylight
801saving has begun on the last Sunday in March at 01:00 UTC.
802Until 1995 it ended the last Sunday in September at 01:00 UTC,
803but this changed to the last Sunday in October starting in 1996.
804.Pp
805For purposes of display,
806.Qq LMT
807and
808.Qq BMT
809were initially used, respectively.
810Since
811Swiss rules and later EU rules were applied, the time zone abbreviation
812has been CET for standard time and CEST for daylight saving
813time.
814.Sh FILES
815Input files use the format described in this section; output files use
816.Xr tzfile 5
817format.
818.Bl -tag -width /usr/share/zoneinfo -compact
819.It Pa /etc/localtime
820Default local timezone file
821.It Pa /usr/share/zoneinfo
822Default timezone information directory
823.El
824.Sh NOTES
825For areas with more than two types of local time,
826you may need to use local standard time in the
827.Em AT
828field of the earliest transition time's rule to ensure that
829the earliest transition time recorded in the compiled file is correct.
830.Pp
831If,
832for a particular timezone,
833a clock advance caused by the start of daylight saving
834coincides with and is equal to
835a clock retreat caused by a change in UT offset,
836.Ic zic
837produces a single transition to daylight saving at the new UT offset
838without any change in local (wall clock) time.
839To get separate transitions
840use multiple zone continuation lines
841specifying transition instants using universal time.
842.Sh SEE ALSO
843.Xr tzfile 5 ,
844.Xr zdump 8
845.\" @(#)zic.8	8.6
846.\" This file is in the public domain, so clarified as of
847.\" 2009-05-17 by Arthur David Olson.
848