xref: /netbsd-src/lib/libc/time/zic.8 (revision 7d1a89a3c23bbdeaa96ec23fa5d6c50e2aeeb516)
1.\" $NetBSD: zic.8,v 1.51 2024/09/11 13:50:34 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 September 10, 2024
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.
389.\"
390.It Ar ON
391Gives the day on which the rule takes effect.
392Recognized forms include:
393.Pp
394.Bl -tag -width Li -offset indent -compact
395.It Li 5
396the fifth of the month
397.It Li lastSun
398the last Sunday in the month
399.It Li lastMon
400the last Monday in the month
401.It Li Sun>=8
402first Sunday on or after the eighth
403.It Li Sun<=25
404last Sunday on or before the 25th
405.El
406.Pp
407Names of days of the week may be abbreviated or spelled out in full.
408A weekday name (e.g.,
409.Ql Sunday )
410or a weekday name preceded by
411.Ql last
412(e.g.,
413.Ql lastSunday )
414may be abbreviated or spelled out in full.
415There must be no white space characters within the
416.Ar ON
417field.
418The
419.Ql <=
420and
421.Ql >=
422constructs can result in a day in the neighboring month;
423for example, the IN\(enON combination
424.Ql "Oct Sun>=31"
425stands for the first Sunday on or after October 31,
426even if that Sunday occurs in November.
427.\"
428.It Ar AT
429Gives the time of day at which the rule takes effect,
430relative to 00:00, the start of a calendar day.
431Recognized forms include:
432.Pp
433.Bl -tag -width Li -compact -offset indent
434.It Li 2
435time in hours
436.It Li 2:00
437time in hours and minutes
438.It Li 01:28:14
439time in hours, minutes, and seconds
440.It Li 00:19:32.13
441time with fractional seconds
442.It Li 12:00
443midday, 12 hours after 00:00
444.It Li 15:00
4453
446.Tn PM ,
44715 hours after 00:00
448.It Li 24:00
449end of day, 24 hours after 00:00
450.It Li 260:00
451260 hours after 00:00
452.It Li \-2:30
4532.5 hours before 00:00
454.It Li \-
455equivalent to 0
456.El
457.Pp
458Although
459.Nm
460rounds times to the nearest integer second
461(breaking ties to the even integer), the fractions may be useful
462to other applications requiring greater precision.
463The source format does not specify any maximum precision.
464Any of these forms may be followed by the letter
465.Ql w
466if the given time is local or
467.Dq wall clock
468time,
469.Ql s
470if the given time is standard time without any adjustment for daylight saving,
471or
472.Ql u
473(or
474.Ql g
475or
476.Ql z )
477if the given time is universal time;
478in the absence of an indicator,
479local (wall clock) time is assumed.
480These forms ignore leap seconds; for example,
481if a leap second occurs at 00:59:60 local time,
482.Ql "1:00"
483stands for 3601 seconds after local midnight instead of the usual 3600 seconds.
484The intent is that a rule line describes the instants when a
485clock/calendar set to the type of time specified in the
486.Ar AT
487field would show the specified date and time of day.
488.\"
489.It Ar SAVE
490Gives the amount of time to be added to local standard time when the rule is in
491effect, and whether the resulting time is standard or daylight saving.
492This field has the same format as the
493.Ar AT
494field, except with a different set of suffix letters:
495.Ql s
496for standard time and
497.Ql d
498for daylight saving time.
499The suffix letter is typically omitted, and defaults to
500.Ql s
501if the offset is zero and to
502.Ql d
503otherwise.
504Negative offsets are allowed; in Ireland, for example, daylight saving
505time is observed in winter and has a negative offset relative to
506Irish Standard Time.
507The offset is merely added to standard time; for example,
508.Nm
509does not distinguish a 10:30 standard time plus an 0:30
510.Ar SAVE
511from a 10:00 standard time plus a 1:00
512.Ar SAVE .
513.\"
514.It Ar LETTER/S
515Gives the
516.Dq variable part
517(for example, the
518.Ql S
519or
520.Ql D
521in
522.Ql EST
523or
524.Ql EDT )
525of time zone abbreviations to be used when this rule is in effect.
526If this field is
527.Ql \&\- ,
528the variable part is null.
529.El
530.\"
531.\" Zone Line
532.\"
533.Pp
534A
535.Sy zone line
536has the form:
537.Pp
538.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "Zone" "Asia/Amman" "STDOFF" "RULES/SAVE" "FORMAT" "[UNTIL]"
539Zone	NAME	STDOFF	RULES/SAVE	FORMAT	[UNTIL]
540.El
541.Pp
542For example:
543.Pp
544.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "Zone" "Asia/Amman" "STDOFF" "RULES/SAVE" "FORMAT" "[UNTIL"]
545Zone	Asia/Amman	2:00	Jordan	EE%sT	2017 Oct 27 1:00
546.El
547.Pp
548The fields that make up a zone line are:
549.Bl -tag -width Ar
550.It Ar NAME
551The name of the timezone.
552This is the name used in creating the time conversion information file for the
553timezone.
554It should not contain a file name component
555.Ql \&.
556or
557.Ql \&.. ;
558a file name component is a maximal substring that does not contain
559.Ql / .
560.\"
561.It Ar STDOFF
562The amount of time to add to UT to get standard time,
563without any adjustment for daylight saving.
564This field has the same format as the
565.Ar AT
566and
567.Ar SAVE
568fields of rule lines, except without suffix letters;
569begin the field with a minus sign if time must be subtracted from UT.
570.\"
571.It Ar RULES
572The name of the rules that apply in the timezone or,
573alternatively, a field in the same format as a rule-line
574.Ar SAVE
575field, giving the amount of time to be added to local standard time
576and whether the resulting time is standard or daylight saving.
577or for timestamps occurring before any rule takes effect.
578Standard time applies if this field is
579.Ql \&\-
580or for timestamps occurring before any rule takes effect.
581When an amount of time is given, only the sum of standard time and
582this amount matters.
583.It Ar FORMAT
584The format for time zone abbreviations.
585The pair of characters
586.Ql %s
587shows where to put the time zone abbreviation's variable part,
588which is taken from the
589.Ar LETTER/S
590field of the corresponding rule;
591any timestamps that precede the earliest rule use the
592.Ar LETTER/S
593of the earliest standard-time rule (which in this case must exist).
594Alternatively, a format can use the pair of characters
595.Ql %z
596to stand for the UT offset in the form
597.Pf \(+- Em \^hh ,
598.Pf \(+- Em \^hhmm ,
599or
600.Pf \(+- Em \^hhmmss ,
601using the shortest form that does not lose information, where
602.Em hh ,
603.Em mm ,
604and
605.Em ss
606are the hours, minutes, and seconds east
607.Pq \&+
608or west
609.Pq \&\-
610of UT.
611Alternatively,
612a slash
613.Pq Ql \&/
614separates standard and daylight abbreviations.
615To conform to POSIX, a time zone abbreviation should contain only
616alphanumeric
617.Tn ASCII
618characters,
619.Ql +
620and
621.Ql \&\- .
622By convention, the time zone abbreviation
623.Ql \&\-00
624is a placeholder that means local time is unspecified.
625.\"
626.It Ar UNTIL
627The time at which the UT offset or the rule(s) change for a location.
628It takes the form of one to four fields
629.Ar YEAR Oo
630.Ar MONTH Oo
631.Ar DAY Oo
632.Ar TIME
633.Oc Oc Oc .
634If this is specified,
635the time zone information is generated from the given UT offset
636and rule change until the time specified, which is interpreted using
637the rules in effect just before the transition.
638The month, day, and time of day have the same format as the
639.Ar IN ,
640.Ar ON ,
641and
642.Ar AT
643fields of a rule; trailing fields can be omitted, and default to the
644earliest possible value for the missing fields.
645.Pp
646The next line must be a
647.Sy continuation line ;
648this has the same form as a zone line except that the string
649.Ql Zone
650and the name are omitted, as the continuation line will
651place information starting at the time specified as the
652.Ar UNTIL
653information in the previous line in the file used by the previous line.
654Continuation lines may contain
655.Ar UNTIL
656information, just as zone lines do, indicating that the next line is a further
657continuation.
658.El
659.Pp
660If a zone changes at the same instant that a rule would otherwise take
661effect in the earlier zone or continuation line, the rule is ignored.
662A zone or continuation line
663.Em L
664with a named rule set starts with standard time by default:
665that is, any of
666.Em L Ap s
667timestamps preceding
668.Em L Ap s
669earliest rule use the rule in effect after
670.Em L Ap s
671first transition into standard time.
672In a single zone it is an error if two rules take effect at the same
673instant, or if two zone changes take effect at the same instant.
674.Pp
675If a continuation line subtracts
676.Ar N
677seconds from the UT offset after a transition that would be
678interpreted to be later if using the continuation line's UT offset and
679rules, the
680.Ar UNTIL
681time of the previous zone or continuation line is interpreted
682according to the continuation line's UT offset and rules, and any rule
683that would otherwise take effect in the next
684.Ar N
685seconds is instead assumed to take effect simultaneously.
686For example:
687.Pp
688.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "# Rule" "NAME" "FROM" "2006" "\&\-" "Oct" "lastSun" "1:00" "SAVE" "LETTER/S"
689.It # Rule	NAME	FROM	TO	\&\-	IN	ON	AT	SAVE	LETTER/S
690.It Rule	US	1967	2006	\&\-	Oct	lastSun	2:00	0	S
691.It Rule	US	1967	1973	\&\-	Apr	lastSun	2:00	1:00	D
692.El
693.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "# Zone" "America/Menominee" "STDOFF" "RULES" "FORMAT" "[UNTIL]"
694.It # Zone	NAME	STDOFF	RULES	FORMAT	[UNTIL]
695.It Zone	America/Menominee	\&\-5:00	\&\-	EST	1973 Apr 29 2:00
696.It \&	\&	\&\-6:00	US	C%sT
697.El
698.Pp
699Here, an incorrect reading would be there were two clock changes on 1973-04-29,
700the first from 02:00 EST (\&\-05) to 01:00 CST (\&\-06),
701and the second an hour later from 02:00 CST (\&\-06) to 03:00 CDT (\&\-05).
702However,
703.Nm
704interprets this more sensibly as a single transition from 02:00 CST (\&\-05) to
70502:00 CDT (\&\-05).
706.\"
707.\" Link Line
708.\"
709.Pp
710A
711.Sy link line
712has the form
713.Pp
714.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "Link" "Europe/Istanbul" "Asia/Istanbul"
715.It Link	TARGET	LINK-NAME
716.El
717.Pp
718For example:
719.Pp
720.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "Link" "Europe/Istanbul" "Asia/Istanbul"
721.It Link	Europe/Istanbul	Asia/Istanbul
722.El
723.Pp
724The
725.Ar TARGET
726field should appear as the
727.Ar NAME
728field in some zone line or as the
729.Ar LINK-NAME
730field in some link line.
731The
732.Ar LINK-NAME
733field is used as an alternative name for that zone;
734it has the same syntax as a zone line's
735.Ar NAME
736field.
737Links can chain together, although the behavior is unspecified if a
738chain of one or more links does not terminate in a Zone name.
739A link line can appear before the line that defines the link target.
740For example:
741.Bl -column -offset indent "Link" "Greenwich" "Greenwich"
742.It Link	Greenwich	G_M_T
743.It Link	Etc/GMT	Greenwich
744.It Zone	Etc/GMT 0	\- GMT
745.El
746.Pp
747The two links are chained together, and G_M_T, Greenwich, and Etc/GMT
748all name the same zone.
749.Pp
750Except for continuation lines,
751lines may appear in any order in the input.
752However, the behavior is unspecified if multiple zone or link lines
753define the same name.
754.\"
755.Ss Leap second file format
756The file that describes leap seconds can have leap lines and an
757expiration line.
758.\"
759.\" Leap Line
760.\"
761.Sy Leap lines
762have the following form:
763.Pp
764.Bl -column -compat -offset indent "Leap" "YEAR" "MONTH" "DAY" "HH:MM:SS" "CORR""R/S"
765.It Leap	YEAR	MONTH	DAY	HH:MM:SS	CORR	R/S
766.El
767.Pp
768For example:
769.Pp
770.Bl -column -compat -offset indent "Leap" "YEAR" "MONTH" "DAY" "HH:MM:SS" "CORR""R/S"
771.It Leap	2016	Dec	31	23:59:60	+	S
772.El
773.Pp
774The
775.Ar YEAR ,
776.Ar MONTH ,
777.Ar DAY ,
778and
779.Ar HH:MM:SS
780fields tell when the leap second happened.
781The
782.Ar CORR
783field
784should be
785.Ql \&+
786if a second was added or
787.Ql \&\-
788if a second was skipped.
789The
790.Ar R/S
791field
792should be (an abbreviation of)
793.Ql Stationary
794if the leap second time given by the other fields should be interpreted as UTC
795or
796(an abbreviation of)
797.Ql Rolling
798if the leap second time given by the other fields should be interpreted as
799local (wall clock) time.
800.Pp
801Rolling leap seconds would let one see
802Times Square ball drops where there'd be a
803.Qq 3... 2... 1... leap... Happy New Year
804countdown, placing the leap second at
805midnight New York time rather than midnight UTC.
806Although stationary leap seconds are the common practice,
807rolling leap seconds can be useful in specialized applications
808like SMPTE timecodes that may prefer to put leap second
809discontinuities at the end of a local broadcast day.
810However, rolling leap seconds are not supported if the
811.Fl r
812option is used.
813.\"
814.\" Expiration Line
815.\"
816.Pp
817The
818.Sy expiration line ,
819if present, has the form:
820.Pp
821.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "Expires" "YEAR" "MONTH" "DAY" "HH:MM:SS"
822.It Expires	YEAR	MONTH	DAY	HH:MM:SS
823.El
824.Pp
825For example:
826.Pp
827.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "Expires" "YEAR" "MONTH" "DAY" "HH:MM:SS"
828.It Expires	2020	Dec	28	00:00:00
829.El
830.Pp
831The
832.Em YEAR ,
833.Em MONTH ,
834.Em DAY ,
835and
836.Em HH:MM:SS
837fields give the expiration timestamp in UTC for the leap second table.
838.Sh EXTENDED EXAMPLE
839Here is an extended example of
840.Ic zic
841input, intended to illustrate many of its features.
842.Pp
843.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "# Rule" "Swiss" "FROM" "1995" "\&*" "Oct" "lastSun" "1:00u" "SAVE" "LETTER/S"
844.It # Rule	NAME	FROM	TO	\&\-	IN	ON	AT	SAVE	LETTER/S
845.It Rule	Swiss	1941	1942	\&\-	May	Mon>=1	1:00	1:00	S
846.It Rule	Swiss	1941	1942	\&\-	Oct	Mon>=1	2:00	0	\-
847.Pp
848.It Rule	EU	1977	1980	\&\-	Apr	Sun>=1	1:00u	1:00	S
849.It Rule	EU	1977	only	\&\-	Sep	lastSun	1:00u	0	\-
850.It Rule	EU	1978	only	\&\-	Oct	 1	1:00u	0	\-
851.It Rule	EU	1979	1995	\&\-	Sep	lastSun	1:00u	0	\-
852.It Rule	EU	1981	max	\&\-	Mar	lastSun	1:00u	1:00	S
853.It Rule	EU	1996	max	\&\-	Oct	lastSun	1:00u	0	\-
854.El
855.Pp
856.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "# Zone" "Europe/Zurich" "0:29:45.50" "RULES/SAVE" "FORMAT" "UNTIL"
857.It # Zone	NAME	STDOFF	RULES/SAVE	FORMAT	[UNTIL]
858.It Zone	Europe/Zurich	0:34:08	\&\-	LMT	1853 Jul 16
859.It 		0:29:45.50	\&\-	BMT	1894 Jun
860.It 		1:00	Swiss	CE%sT	1981
861.It 		1:00	EU	CE%sT
862.Pp
863.El
864.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "# Zone" "Europe/Zurich" "0:34:08" "RULES/SAVE" "FORMAT" "UNTIL"
865.It Link	Europe/Zurich	Europe/Vaduz
866.El
867.Pp
868In this example, the EU rules are for the European Union
869and for its predecessor organization, the European Communities.
870The timezone is named Europe/Zurich and it has the alias Europe/Vaduz.
871This example says that Zurich was 34 minutes and 8
872seconds east of UT until 1853-07-16 at 00:00, when the legal offset
873was changed to 7\(de\|26\(fm\|22.50\(sd; which this works out to
8740:29:45.50;
875.Nm
876treats this by rounding it to 0:29:46.
877After 1894-06-01 at 00:00 the UT offset became one hour
878and Swiss daylight saving rules (defined with lines beginning with
879.Qq "Rule Swiss"
880apply.
881From 1981 to the present, EU daylight saving rules have
882applied, and the UTC offset has remained at one hour.
883.Pp
884In 1941 and 1942, daylight saving time applied from the first Monday
885in May at 01:00 to the first Monday in October at 02:00.
886The pre-1981 EU daylight-saving rules have no effect
887here, but are included for completeness.
888Since 1981, daylight
889saving has begun on the last Sunday in March at 01:00 UTC.
890Until 1995 it ended the last Sunday in September at 01:00 UTC,
891but this changed to the last Sunday in October starting in 1996.
892.Pp
893For purposes of display,
894.Qq LMT
895and
896.Qq BMT
897were initially used, respectively.
898Since
899Swiss rules and later EU rules were applied, the time zone abbreviation
900has been CET for standard time and CEST for daylight saving
901time.
902.Sh FILES
903Input files use the format described in this section; output files use
904.Xr tzfile 5
905format.
906.Bl -tag -width Pa -compact
907.It Pa /etc/localtime
908Default local timezone file
909.It Pa /usr/share/zoneinfo
910Default timezone information directory
911.El
912.Sh NOTES
913For areas with more than two types of local time,
914you may need to use local standard time in the
915.Ar AT
916field of the earliest transition time's rule to ensure that
917the earliest transition time recorded in the compiled file is correct.
918.Pp
919If,
920for a particular timezone,
921a clock advance caused by the start of daylight saving
922coincides with and is equal to
923a clock retreat caused by a change in UT offset,
924.Nm
925produces a single transition to daylight saving at the new UT offset
926without any change in local (wall clock) time.
927To get separate transitions
928use multiple zone continuation lines
929specifying transition instants using universal time.
930.Sh SEE ALSO
931.Xr tzfile 5 ,
932.Xr zdump 8
933