On 2026-09-17 06:50, Dag-Erling Smørgrav via tz wrote:
Paul Eggert via tz writes:
* localtime.c (localtime): Add comment re difference from FreeBSD 15.1.
[...]
+ /* Omit "tzloadflags &= ~TZLOAD_FROMENV;" here, as that
+ would hurt performance by rereading and reanalyzing the
+ TZDEFAULT file even when it is unchanged. */
This is not accurate.
TZLOAD_FROMENV was originally used to indicate that the value of `name`
came from the environment and should therefore be subject to additional
scrutiny.
At some point between 2025a and 2025c, it was robbed of its original
meaning and turned into a flag that controls change detection. No
explanation has ever been provided for the change in meaning of the
flag, or the loss of its original function,
This comment does not help matters. The function that the flag
originally served is still gone. The comment does not explain the
purpose of the flag, it just attacks FreeBSD for still having a line of
code that used to be necessary but now does something completely
different *only because you changed the meaning of this flag overnight
without warning or explanation, and then refused to help when I
approached you about it*.
This pattern of condescending remarks and passive-aggressive attacks
against FreeBSD in code comments and commit logs is beneath you, Paul.
Please do better.
Few OSes and libraries trace their timekeeping heritage to Bell, C, POSIX, or TZ
library sources (although the latter was instrumental in local time support),
but adapted from FreeBSD (as also available for commercial use) with the first
atomic clock based timekeeping platforms, fast µs/ns SMP kernels, and PPS API
drivers, syncing with NTP PLL/FLL tracking. [1]
I know newlib libc still stays (intermittently) synced to FreeBSD time code
base, and has defaulted to time_t 64 (on compilers/libraries which support that)
for nearly 10 years.
Cheap GPS serial receivers made it easy to keep UTC time on any Linux, other
Unix, or MS Windows system synced to UTC(USNO) within 1µs (mostly).
[Timesetting from NIST ACTS (WWV/B) dial-up since ~1988 - NTP GPS since ~2010]
[1] https://phk.freebsd.dk/pubs/timecounter.pdf
--
Take care. Thanks, Brian Inglis Calgary, Alberta, Canada
La perfection est atteinte Perfection is achieved
non pas lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à ajouter not when there is no more to add
mais lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à retrancher but when there is no more to cut
-- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
