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

[Alan Gauld]

On 02/09/2021 19:28, Chris Angelico wrote:

>> Except for the places that don't follow the IANA scheme and/or
>> dynamically change their time settings on a whim. To be complete
>> you need the ability to manually override too.
>>
> 
> What places are those? 

Mainly small non-tech oriented places such as small pacific islands
or principalities with local governance - such as by a group of
tribal elders. I mentioned earlier the example of Andorra announcing
on the Friday night before a DST change that they were deferring
it for a week to preserve the skiing conditions. But we came across
several similar situations in dealing with multi-national service centres.

> IANA maintains the database by noticing changes
> and announcements, and updating the database. 

But don;t those have to be electronic in nature? How, for example
would it pick up the radio news announcement mentioned above?

> governments need to "opt in" or anything. Stuff happens because people
> do stuff, and people do stuff because they want to be able to depend
> on timezone conversions.

Umm, they do DST because it makes their lives easier - more daylight,
extra work time. etc. The needs of, or impact on, computers in these
kinds of small localities and communities are way down the pecking order.

> There ARE times when a government makes a change too quickly to get
> updates out to everyone, especially those who depend on an OS-provided
> copy of tzdata, so I agree with the "on a whim" part. Though,
> fortunately, that's rare.

I agree it is very rare and if you only operate in mainstream
localities you probably never see it as an issue, it's only
when you need to support "off grid" locations that manual
control becomes important. Also the problems we had were about
15 years ago, things may be better ordered nowadays. (I've been
retired for 7 years so can't speak of more recent events)

-- 
Alan G
Author of the Learn to Program web site
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