zic(1M) UNIX System V(Essential Utilities) zic(1M)
NAME
zic - time zone compiler
SYNOPSIS
zic [ -v ] [ -d directory ] [ -l localtime ] [ 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 the pound sign appears on. 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 1:00 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 representable 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
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.
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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. Recognized 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.
A zone line has the form
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zic(1M) UNIX System V(Essential Utilities) zic(1M)
Zone NAME GMTOFF RULES/SAVE FORMAT [UNTIL]
For example:
Zone Australia/South-west GMTOFF RULES/SAVE FORMAT
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 specified 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, indicating 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
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.
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OPTIONS
-v Complain 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
Create time conversion information files in the directory directory
rather than in the standard directory /usr/share/lib/zoneinfo.
-l timezone
Use the time zone timezone as local time. zic will act as if the
file contained a link line of the form
Link timezone localtime
FILES
/usr/share/lib/zoneinfo
standard directory used for created files
SEE ALSO
time(1), ctime(3)
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 compiled
file is correct.
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