Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!auspex!guy
From: guy@auspex.auspex.com (Guy Harris)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ncr
Subject: Re: Sys V Rel. 2 ZONEINFO
Keywords: ado@ncifcrf.gov zoneinfo
Message-ID: <3045@auspex.auspex.com>
Date: 15 Mar 90 19:08:24 GMT
References: <1177@telsys.aut.UUCP> <1990Mar13.180807.7732@pilikia.pegasus.com>
Organization: Auspex Systems, Santa Clara
Lines: 18

>Mind you - I'm not against NCR distributing some of the great PD
>software provided us by the net community, I'd just like them to
>make it *optional*, perhaps have it on a separate tape and allow
>users to install the things they want, and give credit where it's due.

Uh, while that may apply to something that's a bit of code that can be
treated as a self-contained chunk, e.g. a text editor, it doesn't apply
quite so well to something that *replaces* existing chunks of software,
such as the Olson time zone code.  It makes eminent sense to make it the
standard time conversion code in "libc", since having it as some optional
library means you may have a mix of programs that use two different
methods, which means the system administrator has to set both methods up
independently.

If you have most programs linked against a shared C library, and offer a
choice of one or the other, that might be acceptable, although it still
seems to represent a triumph of concern for form over concern for
content....