xref: /netbsd-src/lib/libc/time/zic.8 (revision 8b64b36896ff8d00b5dadb5b1b5fafbb680bb81c)
1.\" $NetBSD: zic.8,v 1.44 2023/12/06 20:01:44 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 December 6, 2023
7.Dt ZIC 8
8.Os
9.Sh NAME
10.Nm zic
11.Nd timezone compiler
12.Sh SYNOPSIS
13.Nm
14.Op Fl \-version
15.Op 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 Filename ...
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 filename
34is
35.Ar \&- ,
36standard input is read.
37.Pp
38.Sh OPTIONS
39.Bl -tag -width XXXXXXXXXX -compact
40.It Fl \-version
41Output version information and exit.
42.It Fl \-help
43Output short usage message and exit.
44.It Fl b Ar bloat
45Output backward-compatibility data as specified by
46.Ar bloat .
47If
48.Ar bloat
49is
50.Dv fat ,
51generate additional data entries that work around potential bugs or
52incompatibilities in older software, such as software that mishandles
53the 64-bit generated data.
54If
55.Ar bloat
56is
57.Dv slim ,
58keep the output files small; this can help check for the bugs
59and incompatibilities.
60The default is
61.Dv slim ,
62as software that mishandles 64-bit data typically
63mishandles timestamps after the year 2038 anyway.
64Also see the
65.Fl r
66option for another way to alter output size.
67.It Fl d Ar directory
68Create time conversion information files in the named directory rather than
69in 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.Dl Link	timezone	localtime
77If
78.Ar timezone
79is
80.Dv \&- ,
81any already-existing link is removed.
82.It Fl L Ar leapsecondfilename
83Read leap second information from the file with the given name.
84If this option is not used,
85no leap second information appears in output files.
86.It Fl p Ar timezone
87Use
88.Ar timezone's
89rules when handling POSIX-format
90TZ strings like
91.Qq EET\&-2EEST
92that lack transition rules.
93.Nm
94will act as if the input contained a link line of the form
95.Dl Link	timezone	posixrules
96.Pp
97Unless
98.Ar timezone
99is
100.Dq \&- ,
101this option is obsolete and poorly supported.
102Among other things it should not be used for timestamps after the year 2037,
103and it should not be combined with
104.Fl b Ar slim
105if
106.Va timezone's
107transitions are at standard time or Universal Time (UT) instead of local time.
108If
109.Ar timezone
110is
111.Dv \&- ,
112any already-existing link is removed.
113.It Fl r Op Ar @lo / Op Ar @hi
114Limit the applicability of output files
115to timestamps in the range from
116.Ar lo
117(inclusive) to
118.Ar hi
119(exclusive), where
120.Ar lo
121and
122.Ar hi
123are possibly signed decimal counts of seconds since the Epoch
124(1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC).
125Omitted counts default to extreme values.
126The output files use UT offset 0 and abbreviation
127.q "\*-00"
128in place of the omitted timestamp data.
129For example,
130.Bd -literal
131zic -r @0
132.Ed
133omits data intended for negative timestamps (i.e., before the Epoch), and
134.Bd -literal
135zic -r @0/@2147483648
136.Ed
137outputs data intended only for nonnegative timestamps that fit into
13831-bit signed integers.
139Or using
140.Xr date 1 ,
141.Bd -literal
142zic -r @$(date +%s)
143.Ed
144omits data intended for past timestamps.
145Although this option typically reduces the output file's size,
146the size can increase due to the need to represent the timestamp range
147boundaries, particularly if
148.Ar hi
149causes a TZif file to contain explicit entries for
150.Ar pre- hi
151transitions rather than concisely representing them
152with an extended POSIX TZ string.
153Also see the
154.Fl b Ar slim
155option for another way to shrink output size.
156.It Fl R Ar @hi
157Generate redundant trailing explicit transitions for timestamps
158that occur less than
159Ar hi
160seconds since the Epoch, even though the transitions could be
161more concisely represented via the extended POSIX TZ string.
162This option does not affect the represented timestamps.
163Although it accommodates nonstandard TZif readers
164that ignore the extended POSIX TZ string,
165it increases the size of the altered output files.
166.It Fl t Ar file
167When creating local time information, put the configuration link in
168the named file rather than in the standard location.
169.It Fl v
170Be more verbose, and complain about the following situations:
171.Bl -dash
172.It
173+The input specifies a link to a link,
174something not supported by some older parsers, including
175.Nm
176itself through release 2022e.
177.It
178A year that appears in a data file is outside the range
179of representable years.
180.It
181A time of 24:00 or more appears in the input.
182Pre-1998 versions of
183.Nm
184prohibit 24:00, and pre-2007 versions prohibit times greater than 24:00.
185.It
186A rule goes past the start or end of the month.
187Pre-2004 versions of
188.Nm
189prohibit this.
190.It
191A time zone abbreviation uses a
192.Dv %z
193format.
194Pre-2015 versions of
195.Nm
196do not support this.
197.It
198A timestamp contains fractional seconds.
199Pre-2018 versions of
200.Nm
201do not support this.
202.It
203The input contains abbreviations that are mishandled by pre-2018 versions of
204.Nm
205due to a longstanding coding bug.
206These abbreviations include
207.Qq L
208for
209.Qq Link ,
210.Qq mi
211for
212.Qq min ,
213.Qq Sa
214for
215.Qq Sat ,
216and
217.Qq Su
218for
219.Qq Sun .
220.It
221The output file does not contain all the information about the
222long-term future of a timezone, because the future cannot be summarized as
223an extended POSIX TZ string.
224For example, as of 2023 this problem
225occurs for Morocco's daylight-saving rules, as
226on predictions for when Ramadan will be observed, something that
227an extended POSIX TZ string cannot represent.
228.It
229The output contains data that may not be handled properly by client
230code designed for older
231.Xr zic 8
232output formats.
233These compatibility issues affect only timestamps
234before 1970 or after the start of 2038.
235.It
236The output contains a truncated leap second table,
237which can cause some older TZif readers to misbehave.
238This can occur if the
239.Fl L
240option is used, and either an Expires line is present or
241the
242.Fl r
243option is also used.
244.It
245The output file contains more than 1200 transitions,
246which may be mishandled by some clients.
247The current reference client supports at most 2000 transitions;
248pre-2014 versions of the reference client support at most 1200
249transitions.
250.It
251A time zone abbreviation has fewer than 3 or more than 6 characters.
252POSIX requires at least 3, and requires implementations to support
253at least 6.
254.It
255An output file name contains a byte that is not an ASCII letter,
256.Qq - ,
257.Qq / ,
258or
259.Qq _ ;
260or it
261or it contains a file name component that contains more than 14 bytes
262or that starts with
263.Qq - .
264.El
265.El
266.Pp
267Input files should be text files, that is, they should be a series of
268zero or more lines, each ending in a newline byte and containing at
269most 2048 bytes counting the newline, and without any
270.Dv NUL
271bytes.
272The input text's encoding
273is typically UTF-8 or ASCII; it should have a unibyte representation
274for the POSIX Portable Character Set (PPCS)
275.Rs
276.%U https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/V1_chap06.html
277.Re
278and the encoding's non-unibyte characters should consist entirely of
279non-PPCS bytes.
280Non-PPCS characters typically occur only in comments:
281although output file names and time zone abbreviations can contain
282nearly any character, other software will work better if these are
283limited to the restricted syntax described under the
284.Op v
285option.
286.Pp
287Input lines are made up of fields.
288Fields are separated from one another by one or more white space characters.
289The white space characters are space, form feed, carriage return, newline,
290tab, and vertical tab.
291Leading and trailing white space on input lines is ignored.
292An unquoted sharp character (#) in the input introduces a comment which extends
293to the end of the line the sharp character appears on.
294White space characters and sharp characters may be enclosed in double
295quotes
296.Pq \&"
297.\" XXX "
298if they're to be used as part of a field.
299Any line that is blank (after comment stripping) is ignored.
300Nonblank lines are expected to be of one of three types:
301rule lines, zone lines, and link lines.
302.Pp
303Names must be in English and are case insensitive.
304They appear in several contexts, and include month and weekday names
305and keywords such as
306.Qq maximum ,
307.Qq only ,
308.Qq Rolling ,
309and
310.Qq Zone .
311A name can be abbreviated by omitting all but an initial prefix; any
312abbreviation must be unambiguous in context.
313.Pp
314A rule line has the form
315.Pp
316.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "Rule" "NAME" "FROM" "1995" "\&*" "Apr" "lastSun" "2:00w" "1:00d" "LETTER/S"
317.It Rule	NAME	FROM	TO	\&-	IN	ON	AT	SAVE	LETTER/S
318.El
319.Pp
320For example:
321.Pp
322.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "Rule" "NAME" "FROM" "1995" "\&*" "Apr" "lastSun" "2:00w" "1:00d" "LETTER/S"
323.It Rule	US	1967	1973	\&-	Apr	lastSun	2:00w	1:00d	D
324.El
325.Pp
326The fields that make up a rule line are:
327.Bl -tag -width "LETTER/S"
328.It NAME
329Gives the name of the rule set that contains this line.
330The name must start with a character that is neither
331an ASCII digit nor
332.Ar \&-
333nor
334.Ar + .
335To allow for future extensions,
336an unquoted name should not contain characters from the set
337.Ar !$%&'()*,/:;<=>?@[\e]^`{|}~ .
338.It FROM
339Gives the first year in which the rule applies.
340Any signed integer year can be supplied; the proleptic Gregorian calendar
341is assumed, with year 0 preceding year 1.
342The word
343.Em minimum
344(or an abbreviation) means the indefinite past.
345The word
346.Em maximum
347(or an abbreviation) means the indefinite future.
348Rules can describe times that are not representable as time values,
349with the unrepresentable times ignored; this allows rules to be portable
350among hosts with differing time value types.
351.It TO
352Gives the final year in which the rule applies.
353In addition to
354.Em minimum
355and
356.Em maximum
357(as above),
358the word
359.Em only
360(or an abbreviation)
361may be used to repeat the value of the
362.Em FROM
363field.
364.It \&-
365should be
366.Qq \&-
367for compatibility with older versions of
368.Nm .
369It was previously known as the
370.Em TYPE
371field, which could contain values to allow a
372separate script to further restrict in which
373.Em types
374of years the rule would apply.
375.It IN
376Names the month in which the rule takes effect.
377Month names may be abbreviated.
378.It ON
379Gives the day on which the rule takes effect.
380Recognized forms include:
381.Pp
382.Bl -tag -width lastSun -compact -offset indent
383.It 5
384the fifth of the month
385.It lastSun
386the last Sunday in the month
387.It lastMon
388the last Monday in the month
389.It Sun\*[Ge]8
390first Sunday on or after the eighth
391.It Sun\*[Le]25
392last Sunday on or before the 25th
393.El
394.Pp
395Names of days of the week may be abbreviated or spelled out in full.
396A weekday name (e.g.,
397.Qq Sunday )
398or a weekday name preceded by
399.Qq last
400(e.g.,
401.Qq lastSunday )
402may be abbreviated or spelled out in full.
403There must be no white space characters within the
404.Em ON
405field.
406The
407.Qq <=
408and
409.Qq >=
410constructs can result in a day in the neighboring month;
411for example, the IN-ON combination
412.Qq "Oct Sun>=31"
413tands for the first Sunday on or after October 31,
414even if that Sunday occurs in November.
415.It AT
416Gives the time of day at which the rule takes effect,
417relative to 00:00, the start of a calendar day.
418Recognized forms include:
419.Pp
420.Bl -tag -width "00X19X32X13" -compact -offset indent
421.It 2
422time in hours
423.It 2:00
424time in hours and minutes
425.It 01:28:14
426time in hours, minutes, and seconds
427.It 00:19:32.13
428time with fractional seconds
429.It 12:00
430midday, 12 hours after 00:00
431.It 15:00
4323 PM, 15 hours after 00:00
433.It 24:00
434end of day, 24 hours after 00:00
435.It 260:00
436260 hours after 00:00
437.It \-2:30
4382.5 hours before 00:00
439.It \-
440equivalent to 0
441.El
442.Pp
443Although
444.I zic
445rounds times to the nearest integer second
446(breaking ties to the even integer), the fractions may be useful
447to other applications requiring greater precision.
448The source format does not specify any maximum precision.
449Any of these forms may be followed by the letter
450.Em w
451if the given time is local or
452.Qq wall clock
453time,
454.Em s
455if the given time is standard time without any adjustment for daylight saving,
456or
457.Em u
458(or
459.Em g
460or
461.Em z )
462if the given time is universal time;
463in the absence of an indicator,
464local (wall clock) time is assumed.
465These forms ignore leap seconds; for example,
466if a leap second occurs at 00:59:60 local time,
467.q "1:00"
468stands for 3601 seconds after local midnight instead of the usual 3600 seconds.
469The intent is that a rule line describes the instants when a
470clock/calendar set to the type of time specified in the
471.Em AT
472field would show the specified date and time of day.
473.It SAVE
474Gives the amount of time to be added to local standard time when the rule is in
475effect, and whether the resulting time is standard or daylight saving.
476This field has the same format as the
477.Em AT
478field
479.Em s
480for standard time and
481.Em d
482for daylight saving time.
483The suffix letter is typically omitted, and defaults to
484.Em s
485if the offset is zero and to
486.Em d
487otherwise.
488Negative offsets are allowed; in Ireland, for example, daylight saving
489time is observed in winter and has a negative offset relative to
490Irish Standard Time.
491The offset is merely added to standard time; for example,
492.Nm
493does not distinguish a 10:30 standard time plus an 0:30
494.Em SAVE
495from a 10:00 standard time plus a 1:00
496.Em SAVE .
497.It LETTER/S
498Gives the
499.Qq variable part
500(for example, the
501.Qq S
502or
503.Qq D
504in
505.Qq EST
506or
507.Qq EDT )
508of time zone abbreviations to be used when this rule is in effect.
509If this field is
510.Em \&- ,
511the variable part is null.
512.El
513.Pp
514A zone line has the form:
515.Pp
516.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "Zone" "Asia/Amman" "STDOFF" "RULES/SAVE" "FORMAT" "[UNTIL]"
517Zone	NAME	STDOFF	RULES/SAVE	FORMAT	[UNTIL]
518.El
519.Pp
520For example:
521.Pp
522.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "Zone" "Asia/Amman" "STDOFF" "RULES/SAVE" "FORMAT" "[UNTIL"]
523Zone	Asia/Amman	2:00	Jordan	EE%sT	2017 Oct 27 1:00
524.El
525.Pp
526The fields that make up a zone line are:
527.Bl -tag -width "RULES/SAVE"
528.It NAME
529The name of the timezone.
530This is the name used in creating the time conversion information file for the
531timezone.
532It should not contain a file name component
533.Qq .
534or
535.Qq .. ;
536a file name component is a maximal substring that does not contain
537.Qq / .
538.It STDOFF
539The amount of time to add to UT to get standard time,
540without any adjustment for daylight saving.
541This field has the same format as the
542.Em AT
543and
544.Em SAVE
545fields of rule lines, except without suffix letters;
546begin the field with a minus sign if time must be subtracted from UT.
547.It RULES
548The name of the rules that apply in the timezone or,
549alternatively, a field in the same format as a rule-line SAVE column,
550giving the amount of time to be added to local standard time
551and whether the resulting time is standard or daylight saving.
552If this field is
553.Em \&-
554then standard time always applies.
555When an amount of time is given, only the sum of standard time and
556this amount matters.
557.It FORMAT
558The format for time zone abbreviations.
559The pair of characters
560.Em %s
561is used to show where the
562.Qq variable part
563of the time zone abbreviation goes.
564Alternatively, a format can use the pair of characters
565.Em %z
566+to stand for the UT offset in the form
567.Em \(+- hh ,
568.Em \(+- hhmm ,
569or
570.Em \(+- hhmmss ,
571using the shortest form that does not lose information, where
572.Em hh ,
573.Em mm ,
574and
575.Em ss
576are the hours, minutes, and seconds east (+) or west (\-) of UT.
577Alternatively,
578a slash
579.Pq \&/
580separates standard and daylight abbreviations.
581To conform to POSIX, a time zone abbreviation should contain only
582alphanumeric ASCII characters,
583.Qq +
584and
585.Qq \&- .
586By convention, the time zone abbreviation
587.Qq \&-00
588is a placeholder that means local time is unspecified.
589.It UNTIL
590The time at which the UT offset or the rule(s) change for a location.
591It takes the form of one to four fields YEAR [MONTH [DAY [TIME]]].
592If this is specified,
593the time zone information is generated from the given UT offset
594and rule change until the time specified, which is interpreted using
595the rules in effect just before the transition.
596The month, day, and time of day have the same format as the IN, ON, and AT
597fields of a rule; trailing fields can be omitted, and default to the
598earliest possible value for the missing fields.
599.Pp
600The next line must be a
601.Qq continuation
602line; this has the same form as a zone line except that the
603string
604.Qq Zone
605and the name are omitted, as the continuation line will
606place information starting at the time specified as the
607.Em until
608information in the previous line in the file used by the previous line.
609Continuation lines may contain
610.Em until
611information, just as zone lines do, indicating that the next line is a further
612continuation.
613.El
614.Pp
615If a zone changes at the same instant that a rule would otherwise take
616effect in the earlier zone or continuation line, the rule is ignored.
617A zone or continuation line
618.I L
619with a named rule set starts with standard time by default:
620that is, any of
621.IR L 's
622timestamps preceding
623.IR L 's
624earliest rule use the rule in effect after
625.IR L 's
626first transition into standard time.
627In a single zone it is an error if two rules take effect at the same
628instant, or if two zone changes take effect at the same instant.
629.Pp
630If a continuation line subtracts
631.Dv N
632seconds from the UT offset after a transition that would be
633interpreted to be later if using the continuation line's UT offset and
634rules, the
635.Em until
636time of the previous zone or continuation line is interpreted
637according to the continuation line's UT offset and rules, and any rule
638that would otherwise take effect in the next
639.Dv N
640seconds is instead assumed to take effect simultaneously.
641For example:
642.Pp
643.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "# Rule" "NAME" "FROM" "2006" "\&-" "Oct" "lastSun" "1:00" "SAVE" "LETTER/S"
644.It # Rule	NAME	FROM	TO	\&-	IN	ON	AT	SAVE	LETTER/S
645.It Rule	US	1967	2006	\&-	Oct	lastSun	2:00	0	S
646.It Rule	US	1967	1973	\&-	Apr	lastSun	2:00	1:00	D
647.El
648.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "# Zone" "America/Menominee" "STDOFF" "RULES" "FORMAT" "[UNTIL]"
649.It # Zone	NAME	STDOFF	RULES	FORMAT	[UNTIL]
650.It Zone	America/Menominee	\&-5:00	\&-	EST	1973 Apr 29 2:00
651.It \&	\&	\&-6:00	US	C%sT
652.El
653.Pp
654Here, an incorrect reading would be there were two clock changes on 1973-04-29,
655the first from 02:00 EST (\&-05) to 01:00 CST (\&-06),
656and the second an hour later from 02:00 CST (\&-06) to 03:00 CDT (\&-05).
657However,
658.Nm
659interprets this more sensibly as a single transition from 02:00 CST (\&-05) to
66002:00 CDT (\&-05).
661.Pp
662A link line has the form
663.Pp
664.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "Link" "Europe/Istanbul" "Asia/Istanbul"
665.It Link	TARGET	LINK-NAME
666.El
667.Pp
668For example:
669.Pp
670.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "Link" "Europe/Istanbul" "Asia/Istanbul"
671.It Link	Europe/Istanbul	Asia/Istanbul
672.El
673.Pp
674The
675.Em TARGET
676field should appear as the
677.Em NAME
678field in some zone line.
679field in some zone line or as the
680.Em LINK-NAME
681field in some link line.
682The
683.Em LINK-NAME
684field is used as an alternative name for that zone;
685it has the same syntax as a zone line's
686.Em NAME
687field.
688Links can chain together, although the behavior is unspecified if a
689chain of one or more links does not terminate in a Zone name.
690A link line can appear before the line that defines the link target.
691For example:
692.Bl -column -offset indent "Link" "Greenwich" "Greenwich"
693.It Link	Greenwich	G_M_T
694.It Link	Etc/GMT	Greenwich
695.It Zone	Etc/GMT 0	- GMT
696.El
697.Pp
698The two links are chained together, and G_M_T, Greenwich, and Etc/GMT
699all name the same zone.
700.Pp
701Except for continuation lines,
702lines may appear in any order in the input.
703However, the behavior is unspecified if multiple zone or link lines
704define the same name.
705.Pp
706The file that describes leap seconds can have leap lines and an
707expiration line.
708Leap lines have the following form:
709.Pp
710.Bl -column -compat -offset indent "Leap" "YEAR" "MONTH" "DAY" "HH:MM:SS" "CORR""R/S"
711.It Leap	YEAR	MONTH	DAY	HH:MM:SS	CORR	R/S
712.El
713.Pp
714For example:
715.Pp
716.Bl -column -compat -offset indent "Leap" "YEAR" "MONTH" "DAY" "HH:MM:SS" "CORR""R/S"
717.It Leap	2016	Dec	31	23:59:60	+	S
718.El
719.Pp
720The
721.Em YEAR ,
722.Em MONTH ,
723.Em DAY ,
724and
725.Em HH:MM:SS
726fields tell when the leap second happened.
727The
728.Em CORR
729field
730should be
731.Qq \&+
732if a second was added
733or
734.Qq \&-
735if a second was skipped.
736The
737.Em R/S
738field
739should be (an abbreviation of)
740.Qq Stationary
741if the leap second time given by the other fields should be interpreted as UTC
742or
743(an abbreviation of)
744.Qq Rolling
745if the leap second time given by the other fields should be interpreted as
746local (wall clock) time.
747.Pp
748Rolling leap seconds were implemented back when it was not
749clear whether common practice was rolling or stationary,
750with concerns that one would see
751Times Square ball drops where there'd be a
752.Qq 3... 2... 1... leap... Happy New Year
753countdown, placing the leap second at
754midnight New York time rather than midnight UTC.
755However, this countdown style does not seem to have caught on,
756which means rolling leap seconds are not used in practice;
757also, they are not supported if the
758.Fl r
759option is used.
760.Pp
761The expiration line, if present, has the form:
762.Pp
763.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "Expires" "YEAR" "MONTH" "DAY" "HH:MM:SS"
764.It Expires	YEAR	MONTH	DAY	HH:MM:SS
765.El
766.Pp
767For example:
768.Pp
769.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "Expires" "YEAR" "MONTH" "DAY" "HH:MM:SS"
770.It Expires	2020	Dec	28	00:00:00
771.El
772.Pp
773The
774.Em YEAR ,
775.Em MONTH ,
776.Em DAY ,
777and
778.Em HH:MM:SS
779fields give the expiration timestamp in UTC for the leap second table.
780.Sh EXTENDED EXAMPLE
781Here is an extended example of
782.Ic zic
783input, intended to illustrate many of its features.
784.Pp
785.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "# Rule" "Swiss" "FROM" "1995" "\&*" "Oct" "lastSun" "1:00u" "SAVE" "LETTER/S"
786.It # Rule	NAME	FROM	TO	\&-	IN	ON	AT	SAVE	LETTER/S
787.It Rule	Swiss	1941	1942	\&-	May	Mon>=1	1:00	1:00	S
788.It Rule	Swiss	1941	1942	\&-	Oct	Mon>=1	2:00	0	-
789.Pp
790.It Rule	EU	1977	1980	\&-	Apr	Sun>=1	1:00u	1:00	S
791.It Rule	EU	1977	only	\&-	Sep	lastSun	1:00u	0	-
792.It Rule	EU	1978	only	\&-	Oct	 1	1:00u	0	-
793.It Rule	EU	1979	1995	\&-	Sep	lastSun	1:00u	0	-
794.It Rule	EU	1981	max	\&-	Mar	lastSun	1:00u	1:00	S
795.It Rule	EU	1996	max	\&-	Oct	lastSun	1:00u	0	-
796.El
797.Pp
798.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "# Zone" "Europe/Zurich" "0:29:45.50" "RULES/SAVE" "FORMAT" "UNTIL"
799.It # Zone	NAME	STDOFF	RULES/SAVE	FORMAT	[UNTIL]
800.It Zone	Europe/Zurich	0:34:08	\&-	LMT	1853 Jul 16
801.It 		0:29:45.50	\&-	BMT	1894 Jun
802.It 		1:00	Swiss	CE%sT	1981
803.It 		1:00	EU	CE%sT
804.Pp
805.El
806.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "# Zone" "Europe/Zurich" "0:34:08" "RULES/SAVE" "FORMAT" "UNTIL"
807.It Link	Europe/Zurich	Europe/Vaduz
808.El
809.Pp
810In this example, the EU rules are for the European Union
811and for its predecessor organization, the European Communities.
812The timezone is named Europe/Zurich and it has the alias Europe/Vaduz.
813This example says that Zurich was 34 minutes and 8
814seconds east of UT until 1853-07-16 at 00:00, when the legal offset
815was changed to 7\(de\|26\(fm\|22.50\(sd; which this works out to
8160:29:45.50;
817.Nm
818treats this by rounding it to 0:29:46.
819After 1894-06-01 at 00:00 the UT offset became one hour
820and Swiss daylight saving rules (defined with lines beginning with
821.Qq "Rule Swiss"
822apply.
823From 1981 to the present, EU daylight saving rules have
824From 1981 to the present, EU daylight saving rules have
825.Pp
826In 1941 and 1942, daylight saving time applied from the first Monday
827in May at 01:00 to the first Monday in October at 02:00.
828The pre-1981 EU daylight-saving rules have no effect
829here, but are included for completeness.
830Since 1981, daylight
831saving has begun on the last Sunday in March at 01:00 UTC.
832Until 1995 it ended the last Sunday in September at 01:00 UTC,
833but this changed to the last Sunday in October starting in 1996.
834.Pp
835For purposes of display,
836.Qq LMT
837and
838.Qq BMT
839were initially used, respectively.
840Since
841Swiss rules and later EU rules were applied, the time zone abbreviation
842has been CET for standard time and CEST for daylight saving
843time.
844.Sh FILES
845Input files use the format described in this section; output files use
846.Xr tzfile 5
847format.
848.Bl -tag -width /usr/share/zoneinfo -compact
849.It Pa /etc/localtime
850Default local timezone file
851.It Pa /usr/share/zoneinfo
852Default timezone information directory
853.El
854.Sh NOTES
855For areas with more than two types of local time,
856you may need to use local standard time in the
857.Em AT
858field of the earliest transition time's rule to ensure that
859the earliest transition time recorded in the compiled file is correct.
860.Pp
861If,
862for a particular timezone,
863a clock advance caused by the start of daylight saving
864coincides with and is equal to
865a clock retreat caused by a change in UT offset,
866.Ic zic
867produces a single transition to daylight saving at the new UT offset
868without any change in local (wall clock) time.
869To get separate transitions
870use multiple zone continuation lines
871specifying transition instants using universal time.
872.Sh SEE ALSO
873.Xr tzfile 5 ,
874.Xr zdump 8
875