The sqlite3 timestamp conversion between unixepoch and localtime can't be done according to the timezone setting on the machine automatically.

[Chris Angelico]

On Wed, Sep 1, 2021 at 7:17 AM <2QdxY4RzWzUUiLuE at potatochowder.com> wrote:
>
> On 2021-09-01 at 08:36:55 +1200,
> dn via Python-list <python-list at python.org> wrote:
>
> > ... there is less consideration about working-out what time it is in
> > Pune cf Kolkata, than between (say) San Francisco and Denver -
> > although they are in the same country, are they in the same time-zone,
> > or not?  (they aren't!)
>
> What about Phoenix?  In the winter, it's the same time there as it is in
> San Francisco, but in the summer, it's the same time there as it is in
> Denver (Phoenix doesn't observe Daylight Saving Time).

I prefer to say: In winter, San Francisco (or Los Angeles) is the same
as Phoenix, but in summer, Los Angeles changes its clocks away, and
Denver changes to happen to be the same as Phoenix.

> And then there's Indiana, a medium size state that tends to get ignored
> (they used to advertise "there's more than just corn in Indiana").  Most
> of Indiana is in US/Eastern, but the cities that are (for practical
> purposes) suburbs of Chicago are in US/Central (aka America/Chicago).

At least the US has governed DST transitions. As I understand it, any
given city has to follow one of the standard time zones, and may
EITHER have no summer time, OR transition at precisely 2AM/3AM local
time on the federally-specified dates. (I think the EU has also
mandated something similar for member states.)

If we could abolish DST world-wide, life would be far easier. All the
rest of it would be easy enough to handle.

> ChrisA is right; you can't make this [stuff] up.

Yeah. And if you think you've heard it all, sign up for the
tzdata-announce mailing list and wait for the next phenomenon. I think
Egypt (Africa/Cairo) is currently in the lead for weirdest timezone
change, for (with short notice) announcing that they'd have DST during
summer but not during Ramadan. Since "summer" is defined by a solar
calendar and "Ramadan" is defined by a lunar calendar, that means the
DST exclusion might happen entirely in winter (no effect), at one end
or other of summer (shortens DST, just changes the dates), or in the
middle of summer (DST on, DST off, DST on, DST off, in a single year).
But they will, at some point, be eclipsed by an even more bizarre
timezone change. I don't dare try to predict what will happen, because
I know that the reality will be even worse....

> Having lived in the United States my entire life (and being a nerd), I
> can confirm that (1) I'm used to it and handle it as well as possible,
> but (2) many people are not and don't.

Yup, absolutely. I've been working internationally for a number of
years now, so my employment has been defined by a clock that isn't my
own. I got used to it and developed tools and habits, but far too many
people don't, and assume that simple "add X hours" conversions
suffice.

ChrisA