Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!killer!ernest!friday!fritz From: fritz@friday.UUCP (Fritz Whittington) Newsgroups: comp.sources.bugs Subject: Re: Flame: Problem with zoo: restoring times Keywords: GMT time Message-ID: <676@friday.UUCP> Date: 23 Feb 89 15:50:56 GMT References: <2884@mhres.mh.nl> <5930001@eecs.nwu.edu> <3453@sugar.uu.net> <1989Feb19.134220.29438@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu> <3465@sugar.uu.net> <1989Feb20.183931.13918@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu> <5798@bsu-cs.UUCP> Reply-To: fritz@friday.UUCP (Fritz Whittington) Organization: Texas Instruments, Dallas, Texas Lines: 45 In article <5798@bsu-cs.UUCP> dhesi@bsu-cs.UUCP (Rahul Dhesi) writes: >In article <1989Feb20.183931.13918@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu> woods@gpu.utcs.UUCP >(Greg Woods) writes: > ...store file times in zoo archives as GMT...This time conversion > constant would be supplied by the person who installs zoo on a given > system. [could use an environment variable or a config file etc.] > >There are two problems with this. First, it forces the end user to >go through an installation step. > >Second, it forces the code inside zoo to know about daylight savings >algorithms. . . . >Portable software ought to work correctly even if information about >timezone is not available. >-- >Rahul Dhesi UUCP: !{iuvax,pur-ee}!bsu-cs!dhesi Software, portable or not, should be *able* to work "correctly" when given the proper inputs (or used in the proper manner). If I zoo files on a Unix system in Texas and un-zoo them on an MS-DOS machine in California, I would expect the software to at least be capable of restoring the correct creation times *if* I provide the time conversion information. (If I'm too ignorant to supply it by setting the proper environment variable, then it's *my* fault; if I do supply it and the software ignores it, the software is at fault.) The stuff about daylight time seems strange to me; MS-DOS users usually change their system clock to match the clock on the wall (if they care about time at all). Seems pretty trivial to change the 'offset from GMT' environment variable at the same time. -------end of purported useful information-------- The rest of this followup is dedicated to the stupidity of the current version of inews. It provides an excellent example of software that does not work "correctly" by refusing to even ask the news poster if he really is aware that he hasn't put in enough extra text to satisfy the ludicrous requirement that the amount of follow-up text be more than the amount of quoted text. The rumor that this requirement was added to the software specification for inews by a consortium of long-distance providers in order to increase their billings to Usenet machines is appealing, but probably untrue; I don't believe there *is* a software specification document for inews! ---- Fritz Whittington Texas Instruments, Incorporated I don't even claim these opinions myself! MS 3105 UUCP: killer!ernest!friday!fritz 8505 Forest Lane AT&T: (214)480-6302 Dallas, Texas 75243