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+.\" This file is in the public domain, so clarified as of
+.\" 1996-06-05 by Arthur David Olson.
+.TH tzfile 5 "" "Time Zone Database"
+.SH NAME
+tzfile \- timezone information
+.SH DESCRIPTION
+.ie '\(lq'' .ds lq \&"\"
+.el .ds lq \(lq\"
+.ie '\(rq'' .ds rq \&"\"
+.el .ds rq \(rq\"
+.de q
+\\$3\*(lq\\$1\*(rq\\$2
+..
+.ie \n(.g .ds - \f(CR-\fP
+.el .ds - \-
+The timezone information files used by
+.BR tzset (3)
+are typically found under a directory with a name like
+.IR /usr/share/zoneinfo .
+These files use the format described in Internet RFC 8536.
+Each file is a sequence of 8-bit bytes.
+In a file, a binary integer is represented by a sequence of one or
+more bytes in network order (bigendian, or high-order byte first),
+with all bits significant,
+a signed binary integer is represented using two's complement,
+and a boolean is represented by a one-byte binary integer that is
+either 0 (false) or 1 (true).
+The format begins with a 44-byte header containing the following fields:
+.IP * 2
+The magic four-byte ASCII sequence
+.q "TZif"
+identifies the file as a timezone information file.
+.IP *
+A byte identifying the version of the file's format
+(as of 2021, either an ASCII NUL,
+.q "2",
+.q "3",
+or
+.q "4" ).
+.IP *
+Fifteen bytes containing zeros reserved for future use.
+.IP *
+Six four-byte integer values, in the following order:
+.RS
+.TP
+.B tzh_ttisutcnt
+The number of UT/local indicators stored in the file.
+(UT is Universal Time.)
+.TP
+.B tzh_ttisstdcnt
+The number of standard/wall indicators stored in the file.
+.TP
+.B tzh_leapcnt
+The number of leap seconds for which data entries are stored in the file.
+.TP
+.B tzh_timecnt
+The number of transition times for which data entries are stored
+in the file.
+.TP
+.B tzh_typecnt
+The number of local time types for which data entries are stored
+in the file (must not be zero).
+.TP
+.B tzh_charcnt
+The number of bytes of time zone abbreviation strings
+stored in the file.
+.RE
+.PP
+The above header is followed by the following fields, whose lengths
+depend on the contents of the header:
+.IP * 2
+.B tzh_timecnt
+four-byte signed integer values sorted in ascending order.
+These values are written in network byte order.
+Each is used as a transition time (as returned by
+.BR time (2))
+at which the rules for computing local time change.
+.IP *
+.B tzh_timecnt
+one-byte unsigned integer values;
+each one but the last tells which of the different types of local time types
+described in the file is associated with the time period
+starting with the same-indexed transition time
+and continuing up to but not including the next transition time.
+(The last time type is present only for consistency checking with the
+POSIX-style TZ string described below.)
+These values serve as indices into the next field.
+.IP *
+.B tzh_typecnt
+.B ttinfo
+entries, each defined as follows:
+.in +.5i
+.sp
+.nf
+.ta .5i +\w'unsigned char\0\0'u
+struct ttinfo {
+ int32_t tt_utoff;
+ unsigned char tt_isdst;
+ unsigned char tt_desigidx;
+};
+.in -.5i
+.fi
+.sp
+Each structure is written as a four-byte signed integer value for
+.BR tt_utoff ,
+in network byte order, followed by a one-byte boolean for
+.B tt_isdst
+and a one-byte value for
+.BR tt_desigidx .
+In each structure,
+.B tt_utoff
+gives the number of seconds to be added to UT,
+.B tt_isdst
+tells whether
+.B tm_isdst
+should be set by
+.BR localtime (3)
+and
+.B tt_desigidx
+serves as an index into the array of time zone abbreviation bytes
+that follow the
+.B ttinfo
+entries in the file; if the designated string is "\*-00", the
+.B ttinfo
+entry is a placeholder indicating that local time is unspecified.
+The
+.B tt_utoff
+value is never equal to \-2**31, to let 32-bit clients negate it without
+overflow.
+Also, in realistic applications
+.B tt_utoff
+is in the range [\-89999, 93599] (i.e., more than \-25 hours and less
+than 26 hours); this allows easy support by implementations that
+already support the POSIX-required range [\-24:59:59, 25:59:59].
+.IP *
+.B tzh_charcnt
+bytes that represent time zone designations,
+which are null-terminated byte strings, each indexed by the
+.B tt_desigidx
+values mentioned above.
+The byte strings can overlap if one is a suffix of the other.
+The encoding of these strings is not specified.
+.IP *
+.B tzh_leapcnt
+pairs of four-byte values, written in network byte order;
+the first value of each pair gives the nonnegative time
+(as returned by
+.BR time (2))
+at which a leap second occurs or at which the leap second table expires;
+the second is a signed integer specifying the correction, which is the
+.I total
+number of leap seconds to be applied during the time period
+starting at the given time.
+The pairs of values are sorted in strictly ascending order by time.
+Each pair denotes one leap second, either positive or negative,
+except that if the last pair has the same correction as the previous one,
+the last pair denotes the leap second table's expiration time.
+Each leap second is at the end of a UTC calendar month.
+The first leap second has a nonnegative occurrence time,
+and is a positive leap second if and only if its correction is positive;
+the correction for each leap second after the first differs
+from the previous leap second by either 1 for a positive leap second,
+or \-1 for a negative leap second.
+If the leap second table is empty, the leap-second correction is zero
+for all timestamps;
+otherwise, for timestamps before the first occurrence time,
+the leap-second correction is zero if the first pair's correction is 1 or \-1,
+and is unspecified otherwise (which can happen only in files
+truncated at the start).
+.IP *
+.B tzh_ttisstdcnt
+standard/wall indicators, each stored as a one-byte boolean;
+they tell whether the transition times associated with local time types
+were specified as standard time or local (wall clock) time.
+.IP *
+.B tzh_ttisutcnt
+UT/local indicators, each stored as a one-byte boolean;
+they tell whether the transition times associated with local time types
+were specified as UT or local time.
+If a UT/local indicator is set, the corresponding standard/wall indicator
+must also be set.
+.PP
+The standard/wall and UT/local indicators were designed for
+transforming a TZif file's transition times into transitions appropriate
+for another time zone specified via a POSIX-style TZ string that lacks rules.
+For example, when TZ="EET\*-2EEST" and there is no TZif file "EET\*-2EEST",
+the idea was to adapt the transition times from a TZif file with the
+well-known name "posixrules" that is present only for this purpose and
+is a copy of the file "Europe/Brussels", a file with a different UT offset.
+POSIX does not specify this obsolete transformational behavior,
+the default rules are installation-dependent, and no implementation
+is known to support this feature for timestamps past 2037,
+so users desiring (say) Greek time should instead specify
+TZ="Europe/Athens" for better historical coverage, falling back on
+TZ="EET\*-2EEST,M3.5.0/3,M10.5.0/4" if POSIX conformance is required
+and older timestamps need not be handled accurately.
+.PP
+The
+.BR localtime (3)
+function
+normally uses the first
+.B ttinfo
+structure in the file
+if either
+.B tzh_timecnt
+is zero or the time argument is less than the first transition time recorded
+in the file.
+.SS Version 2 format
+For version-2-format timezone files,
+the above header and data are followed by a second header and data,
+identical in format except that
+eight bytes are used for each transition time or leap second time.
+(Leap second counts remain four bytes.)
+After the second header and data comes a newline-enclosed,
+POSIX-TZ-environment-variable-style string for use in handling instants
+after the last transition time stored in the file
+or for all instants if the file has no transitions.
+The POSIX-style TZ string is empty (i.e., nothing between the newlines)
+if there is no POSIX-style representation for such instants.
+If nonempty, the POSIX-style TZ string must agree with the local time
+type after the last transition time if present in the eight-byte data;
+for example, given the string
+.q "WET0WEST,M3.5.0/1,M10.5.0"
+then if a last transition time is in July, the transition's local time
+type must specify a daylight-saving time abbreviated
+.q "WEST"
+that is one hour east of UT.
+Also, if there is at least one transition, time type 0 is associated
+with the time period from the indefinite past up to but not including
+the earliest transition time.
+.SS Version 3 format
+For version-3-format timezone files, the POSIX-TZ-style string may
+use two minor extensions to the POSIX TZ format, as described in
+.BR newtzset (3).
+First, the hours part of its transition times may be signed and range from
+\-167 through 167 instead of the POSIX-required unsigned values
+from 0 through 24.
+Second, DST is in effect all year if it starts
+January 1 at 00:00 and ends December 31 at 24:00 plus the difference
+between daylight saving and standard time.
+.SS Version 4 format
+For version-4-format TZif files,
+the first leap second record can have a correction that is neither
++1 nor \-1, to represent truncation of the TZif file at the start.
+Also, if two or more leap second transitions are present and the last
+entry's correction equals the previous one, the last entry
+denotes the expiration of the leap second table instead of a leap second;
+timestamps after this expiration are unreliable in that future
+releases will likely add leap second entries after the expiration, and
+the added leap seconds will change how post-expiration timestamps are treated.
+.SS Interoperability considerations
+Future changes to the format may append more data.
+.PP
+Version 1 files are considered a legacy format and
+should not be generated, as they do not support transition
+times after the year 2038.
+Readers that understand only Version 1 must ignore
+any data that extends beyond the calculated end of the version
+1 data block.
+.PP
+Other than version 1, writers should generate
+the lowest version number needed by a file's data.
+For example, a writer should generate a version 4 file
+only if its leap second table either expires or is truncated at the start.
+Likewise, a writer not generating a version 4 file
+should generate a version 3 file only if
+TZ string extensions are necessary to accurately
+model transition times.
+.PP
+The sequence of time changes defined by the version 1
+header and data block should be a contiguous sub-sequence
+of the time changes defined by the version 2+ header and data
+block, and by the footer.
+This guideline helps obsolescent version 1 readers
+agree with current readers about timestamps within the
+contiguous sub-sequence. It also lets writers not
+supporting obsolescent readers use a
+.B tzh_timecnt
+of zero
+in the version 1 data block to save space.
+.PP
+When a TZif file contains a leap second table expiration
+time, TZif readers should either refuse to process
+post-expiration timestamps, or process them as if the expiration
+time did not exist (possibly with an error indication).
+.PP
+Time zone designations should consist of at least three (3)
+and no more than six (6) ASCII characters from the set of
+alphanumerics,
+.q "\*-",
+and
+.q "+".
+This is for compatibility with POSIX requirements for
+time zone abbreviations.
+.PP
+When reading a version 2 or higher file, readers
+should ignore the version 1 header and data block except for
+the purpose of skipping over them.
+.PP
+Readers should calculate the total lengths of the
+headers and data blocks and check that they all fit within
+the actual file size, as part of a validity check for the file.
+.PP
+When a positive leap second occurs, readers should append an extra
+second to the local minute containing the second just before the leap
+second. If this occurs when the UTC offset is not a multiple of 60
+seconds, the leap second occurs earlier than the last second of the
+local minute and the minute's remaining local seconds are numbered
+through 60 instead of the usual 59; the UTC offset is unaffected.
+.SS Common interoperability issues
+This section documents common problems in reading or writing TZif files.
+Most of these are problems in generating TZif files for use by
+older readers.
+The goals of this section are:
+.IP * 2
+to help TZif writers output files that avoid common
+pitfalls in older or buggy TZif readers,
+.IP *
+to help TZif readers avoid common pitfalls when reading
+files generated by future TZif writers, and
+.IP *
+to help any future specification authors see what sort of
+problems arise when the TZif format is changed.
+.PP
+When new versions of the TZif format have been defined, a
+design goal has been that a reader can successfully use a TZif
+file even if the file is of a later TZif version than what the
+reader was designed for.
+When complete compatibility was not achieved, an attempt was
+made to limit glitches to rarely used timestamps and allow
+simple partial workarounds in writers designed to generate
+new-version data useful even for older-version readers.
+This section attempts to document these compatibility issues and
+workarounds, as well as to document other common bugs in
+readers.
+.PP
+Interoperability problems with TZif include the following:
+.IP * 2
+Some readers examine only version 1 data.
+As a partial workaround, a writer can output as much version 1
+data as possible.
+However, a reader should ignore version 1 data, and should use
+version 2+ data even if the reader's native timestamps have only
+32 bits.
+.IP *
+Some readers designed for version 2 might mishandle
+timestamps after a version 3 or higher file's last transition, because
+they cannot parse extensions to POSIX in the TZ-like string.
+As a partial workaround, a writer can output more transitions
+than necessary, so that only far-future timestamps are
+mishandled by version 2 readers.
+.IP *
+Some readers designed for version 2 do not support
+permanent daylight saving time with transitions after 24:00
+\(en e.g., a TZ string
+.q "EST5EDT,0/0,J365/25"
+denoting permanent Eastern Daylight Time
+(\-04).
+As a workaround, a writer can substitute standard time
+for two time zones east, e.g.,
+.q "XXX3EDT4,0/0,J365/23"
+for a time zone with a never-used standard time (XXX, \-03)
+and negative daylight saving time (EDT, \-04) all year.
+Alternatively,
+as a partial workaround a writer can substitute standard time
+for the next time zone east \(en e.g.,
+.q "AST4"
+for permanent
+Atlantic Standard Time (\-04).
+.IP *
+Some readers designed for version 2 or 3, and that require strict
+conformance to RFC 8536, reject version 4 files whose leap second
+tables are truncated at the start or that end in expiration times.
+.IP *
+Some readers ignore the footer, and instead predict future
+timestamps from the time type of the last transition.
+As a partial workaround, a writer can output more transitions
+than necessary.
+.IP *
+Some readers do not use time type 0 for timestamps before
+the first transition, in that they infer a time type using a
+heuristic that does not always select time type 0.
+As a partial workaround, a writer can output a dummy (no-op)
+first transition at an early time.
+.IP *
+Some readers mishandle timestamps before the first
+transition that has a timestamp not less than \-2**31.
+Readers that support only 32-bit timestamps are likely to be
+more prone to this problem, for example, when they process
+64-bit transitions only some of which are representable in 32
+bits.
+As a partial workaround, a writer can output a dummy
+transition at timestamp \-2**31.
+.IP *
+Some readers mishandle a transition if its timestamp has
+the minimum possible signed 64-bit value.
+Timestamps less than \-2**59 are not recommended.
+.IP *
+Some readers mishandle POSIX-style TZ strings that
+contain
+.q "<"
+or
+.q ">".
+As a partial workaround, a writer can avoid using
+.q "<"
+or
+.q ">"
+for time zone abbreviations containing only alphabetic
+characters.
+.IP *
+Many readers mishandle time zone abbreviations that contain
+non-ASCII characters.
+These characters are not recommended.
+.IP *
+Some readers may mishandle time zone abbreviations that
+contain fewer than 3 or more than 6 characters, or that
+contain ASCII characters other than alphanumerics,
+.q "\*-",
+and
+.q "+".
+These abbreviations are not recommended.
+.IP *
+Some readers mishandle TZif files that specify
+daylight-saving time UT offsets that are less than the UT
+offsets for the corresponding standard time.
+These readers do not support locations like Ireland, which
+uses the equivalent of the POSIX TZ string
+.q "IST\*-1GMT0,M10.5.0,M3.5.0/1",
+observing standard time
+(IST, +01) in summer and daylight saving time (GMT, +00) in winter.
+As a partial workaround, a writer can output data for the
+equivalent of the POSIX TZ string
+.q "GMT0IST,M3.5.0/1,M10.5.0",
+thus swapping standard and daylight saving time.
+Although this workaround misidentifies which part of the year
+uses daylight saving time, it records UT offsets and time zone
+abbreviations correctly.
+.IP *
+Some readers generate ambiguous timestamps for positive leap seconds
+that occur when the UTC offset is not a multiple of 60 seconds.
+For example, in a timezone with UTC offset +01:23:45 and with
+a positive leap second 78796801 (1972-06-30 23:59:60 UTC), some readers will
+map both 78796800 and 78796801 to 01:23:45 local time the next day
+instead of mapping the latter to 01:23:46, and they will map 78796815 to
+01:23:59 instead of to 01:23:60.
+This has not yet been a practical problem, since no civil authority
+has observed such UTC offsets since leap seconds were
+introduced in 1972.
+.PP
+Some interoperability problems are reader bugs that
+are listed here mostly as warnings to developers of readers.
+.IP * 2
+Some readers do not support negative timestamps.
+Developers of distributed applications should keep this
+in mind if they need to deal with pre-1970 data.
+.IP *
+Some readers mishandle timestamps before the first
+transition that has a nonnegative timestamp.
+Readers that do not support negative timestamps are likely to
+be more prone to this problem.
+.IP *
+Some readers mishandle time zone abbreviations like
+.q "\*-08"
+that contain
+.q "+",
+.q "\*-",
+or digits.
+.IP *
+Some readers mishandle UT offsets that are out of the
+traditional range of \-12 through +12 hours, and so do not
+support locations like Kiritimati that are outside this
+range.
+.IP *
+Some readers mishandle UT offsets in the range [\-3599, \-1]
+seconds from UT, because they integer-divide the offset by
+3600 to get 0 and then display the hour part as
+.q "+00".
+.IP *
+Some readers mishandle UT offsets that are not a multiple
+of one hour, or of 15 minutes, or of 1 minute.
+.SH SEE ALSO
+.BR time (2),
+.BR localtime (3),
+.BR tzset (3),
+.BR tzselect (8),
+.BR zdump (8),
+.BR zic (8).
+.PP
+Olson A, Eggert P, Murchison K. The Time Zone Information Format (TZif).
+2019 Feb.
+.UR https://\:datatracker.ietf.org/\:doc/\:html/\:rfc8536
+Internet RFC 8536
+.UE
+.UR https://\:doi.org/\:10.17487/\:RFC8536
+doi:10.17487/RFC8536
+.UE .