zic(1M) zic(1M)
NAME
zic - time zone compiler
SYNOPSIS
zic [-s] [-v] [-d directory] [-l timezone] [filename ...]
DESCRIPTION
zic reads text from the file(s) named on the command line and creates
the time conversion information files specified in this input. If a
filename is -, the standard input is read.
Input lines are made up of fields. Fields are separated by any number
of white space characters. Leading and trailing white space on input
lines is ignored. A pound sign (#) in the input introduces a comment
which extends to the end of the line on which the pound sign appears.
White space characters and pound signs may be enclosed in double
quotes (") if they're to be used as part of a field. Any line that is
blank (after comment stripping) is ignored. Non-blank lines are
expected to be of one of three types: rule lines, zone lines, and link
lines.
A rule line has the form
Rule NAME FROM TO TYPE IN ON AT SAVE LETTER/S
For example:
Rule USA 1969 1973 - Apr lastSun 2:00 5:00 D
The fields that make up a rule line are:
NAME Gives the (arbitrary) name of the set of rules this
rule is part of.
FROM Gives the first year in which the rule applies. The
word minimum (or an abbreviation) means the minimum
year with a representable time value. The word maximum
(or an abbreviation) means the maximum year with a rep-
resentable time value.
TO Gives the final year in which the rule applies. In
addition to minimum and maximum (as above), the word
only (or an abbreviation) may be used to repeat the
value of the FROM field.
TYPE Gives the type of year in which the rule applies. If
TYPE is - then the rule applies in all years between
FROM and TO inclusive; if TYPE is uspres, the rule
applies in U.S. Presidential election years; if TYPE is
nonpres, the rule applies in years other than U.S.
Presidential election years. If TYPE is something else,
then zic executes the command
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yearistype year type
to check the type of a year: an exit status of zero is
taken to mean that the year is of the given type; an
exit status of one is taken to mean that the year is
not of the given type.
IN Names the month in which the rule takes effect. Month
names may be abbreviated.
ON Gives the day on which the rule takes effect. Recog-
nized forms include:
5 the fifth of the month
lastSun the last Sunday in the month
lastMon the last Monday in the month
Sun>=8 first Sunday on or after the eighth
Sun<=25 last Sunday on or before the 25th
Names of days of the week may be abbreviated or spelled
out in full. Note: there must be no spaces within the
ON field.
AT Gives the time of day at which the rule takes effect.
Recognized forms include:
2 time in hours
2:00 time in hours and minutes
15:00 24-hour format time (for times after noon)
1:28:14 time in hours, minutes, and seconds
Any of these forms may be followed by the letter w if the given time
is local "wall clock" time or s if the given time is local "standard"
time; in the absence of w or s, wall clock time is assumed.
SAVE Gives the amount of time to be added to local standard
time when the rule is in effect. This field has the
same format as the AT field (although, of course, the w
and s suffixes are not used).
LETTER/S Gives the "variable part" (for example, the "S" or "D"
in "EST" or "EDT") of time zone abbreviations to be
used when this rule is in effect. If this field is -,
the variable part is null.
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A zone line has the form
Zone NAME GMTOFF RULES/SAVE FORMAT [UNTIL]
For example:
Zone Australia/South 9:00 Oz CST
The fields that make up a zone line are:
NAME The name of the time zone. This is the name used in
creating the time conversion information file for the
zone.
GMTOFF The amount of time to add to GMT to get standard time
in this zone. This field has the same format as the AT
and SAVE fields of rule lines; begin the field with a
minus sign if time must be subtracted from GMT.
RULES/SAVE The name of the rule(s) that apply in the time zone or,
alternately, an amount of time to add to local standard
time. If this field is - then standard time always
applies in the time zone.
FORMAT The format for time zone abbreviations in this time
zone. The pair of characters %s is used to show where
the "variable part" of the time zone abbreviation goes.
UNTIL The time at which the GMT offset or the rule(s) change
for a location. It is specified as a year, a month, a
day, and a time of day. If this is specified, the time
zone information is generated from the given GMT offset
and rule change until the time specified.
The next line must be a "continuation" line; this has
the same form as a zone line except that the string
"Zone" and the name are omitted, as the continuation
line will place information starting at the time speci-
fied as the UNTIL field in the previous line in the
file used by the previous line. Continuation lines may
contain an UNTIL field, just as zone lines do, indicat-
ing that the next line is a further continuation.
A link line has the form
Link LINK-FROM LINK-TO
For example:
Link US/Eastern EST5EDT
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The LINK-FROM field should appear as the NAME field in some zone line;
the LINK-TO field is used as an alternate name for that zone.
Except for continuation lines, lines may appear in any order in the
input.
OPTIONS
-s (short) The rule valid since 1970 applies if the word minimum
appears in the field FROM.
-v Complains if a year that appears in a data file is outside the
range of years representable by system time values (0:00:00 AM
GMT, January 1, 1970, to 3:14:07 AM GMT, January 19, 2038).
-d directory
Creates time conversion information files in the directory
directory rather than in the standard directory /usr/lib/locale/TZ.
-l timezone
Uses the time zone timezone as local time. zic will act as if the
file contained a link line of the form
Link timezone localtime
LOCALE
The LCMESSAGES environment variable governs the language in which
message texts are displayed.
If LCMESSAGES is undefined or is defined as the null string, it
defaults to the value of LANG. If LANG is likewise undefined or null,
the system acts as if it were not internationalized.
If any of the locale variables has an invalid value, the system acts
as if none of the variables was set.
The LCALL environment variable governs the entire locale. LCALL
takes precedence over all the other environment variables which affect
internationalization.
NOTE
For areas with more than two types of local time, you may need to use
local standard time in the AT field of the earliest transition time's
rule to ensure that the earliest transition time recorded in the com-
piled file is correct.
FILES
/usr/lib/locale/TZ
standard directory used for created files
SEE ALSO
time(1), ctime(3C).
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