I started writing a description of the problems with Firebird's current
date and time functions and the extra problems the limited timezone
extension introduce, but it was getting too long. The bottom line is
that I LIKE the fact that Firebird works with a day element and a time
element, but neither are directly suitable for my own historic data, so
adding a restricted timezone function is academic anyway. Just what the
limitations are need to be documented fully! The one can decide if one
can use them at all ...
I started http://timedb.co.uk some years ago to start documenting all
the problems and originally to provide a place for material that was at
that time being sidelined on the TZ database. Paul has now at least
backtracked and does allow pre-1970's data to be added even if it's use
is a lottery with only primary id's displaying it :(
My main problem with all of this in the simple lack of acceptance by
many people that the version of the data being used IS important even
with current data. How many computers currently are correctly showing
the North Korean local time? and many countries continue to debate on
whether to continue with DST at all, rule sets change several times a year.
http://timedb.co.uk/wiki/view/Firebirds+compatibility+with+the+real+world
has grown a bit from it's title and in reality I need to split out the
Firebird specific bits from the rant, but hopefully someone will be
interested enough to appreciate the details and I welcome any
contributions to site!
--
Lester Caine - G8HFL
-----------------------------
Contact - http://lsces.co.uk/wiki/?page=contact
L.S.Caine Electronic Services - http://lsces.co.uk
EnquirySolve - http://enquirysolve.com/
Model Engineers Digital Workshop - http://medw.co.uk
Rainbow Digital Media - http://rainbowdigitalmedia.co.uk
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