Subject: Re: bug#56524: doc: timezone offset conversion/info

From: Paul Eggert <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2022 19:05:22 -0700

On 7/13/22 14:31, Karl Berry wrote:
>      +Simple POSIX rules like this can also specify nonzero Greenwich offsets.
> 
> Nothing about this seems "simple" to me :).

I meant "simple" in comparison to the rules like 
TZ="<-05>+5<-04>,M3.2.0/2,M11.1.0/2".

Fixed by installing the attached further patch, which also omits that 
hyphen - though it keeps another similar hyphen that you didn't mention. 
"Most style guides do advise against linking 'more' to an adjective with 
a hyphen, but most also recognize that sometimes a hyphen may be 
necessary for clarity." 
<https://www.dailywritingtips.com/hyphenating-more-adjective/>

From 5336cb27ab42f27b8b8ac31982e8215fe5af6f34 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Paul Eggert <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2022 18:54:56 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] * doc/parse-datetime.texi: Tweak wording again.

---
 doc/parse-datetime.texi | 17 ++++++++++-------
 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/doc/parse-datetime.texi b/doc/parse-datetime.texi
index 7939273691..e1ce97220a 100644
--- a/doc/parse-datetime.texi
+++ b/doc/parse-datetime.texi
@@ -551,31 +551,34 @@ location name in a @env{TZ} setting, e.g.,
 @samp{TZ=":America/New_York"}.
 
 The @samp{tz} database includes a wide variety of locations ranging
-from @samp{Arctic/Longyearbyen} to @samp{Antarctica/South_Pole}, but
+from @samp{Africa/Abidjan} to @samp{Pacific/Tongatapu}, but
 if you are at sea and have your own private time zone, or if you are
 using a non-GNU host that does not support the @samp{tz}
 database, you may need to use a POSIX rule instead.
 The previously-mentioned POSIX rule @samp{UTC0} says that the time zone
 abbreviation is @samp{UTC}, the zone is zero hours away from
 Greenwich, and there is no daylight saving time.
-Simple POSIX rules like this can also specify nonzero Greenwich offsets.
+POSIX rules can also specify nonzero Greenwich offsets.
 For example, the following shell transcript answers the question
 ``What time is it five and a half hours east of Greenwich when a clock
 seven hours west of Greenwich shows 9:50pm on July 12, 2022?''
 
 @example
-$ TZ="<+0530>-5:30" date --date='TZ="<-07>7" 2022-07-12 21:50'
+$ TZ="<+0530>-5:30" date --date='TZ="<-07>+7" 2022-07-12 21:50'
 Wed Jul 13 10:20:00 +0530 2022
 @end example
 
 @noindent
-This example uses the somewhat-confusing POSIX convention for TZ strings.
-@samp{TZ="<-07>7"} says that the time zone abbreviation is @samp{-07}
+This example uses the somewhat-confusing POSIX convention for rules.
+@samp{TZ="<-07>+7"} says that the time zone abbreviation is @samp{-07}
 and the time zone is 7 hours west of Greenwich, and
 @samp{TZ="<+0530>-5:30"} says that the time zone abbreviation is @samp{+0530}
 and the time zone is 5 hours 30 minutes east of Greenwich.
-More-complex POSIX TZ strings can specify simple daylight saving
-regimes.  @xref{TZ Variable,, Specifying the Time Zone with @code{TZ},
+Although trickier POSIX @env{TZ} settings like
+@samp{TZ="<-05>+5<-04>,M3.2.0/2,M11.1.0/2"} can specify some daylight
+saving regimes, location-based settings like
+@samp{TZ="America/New_York"} are typically simpler and more accurate
+historically.  @xref{TZ Variable,, Specifying the Time Zone with @code{TZ},
 libc, The GNU C Library}.
 
 @node Authors of parse_datetime
-- 
2.34.1