Subject: Re: [Tzdist] tzdist-service - Proposal - Reorganize paragraphs related to terminology

From: Tobias Conradi <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2014 18:39:40 +0200

On Fri, Sep 26, 2014 at 8:04 PM, Tobias Conradi <[email-masked]> wrote:
> Currently basic terminology is defined in different places and some
> terms are not linked from the TOC, because they don't have their own
> section.
>
> Compare with
> http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5545
> where the TOC lists many of the terms used in the RFC, and thus people
> can link directly to them.

What is the position of Cyrus? What is the position of the chairs?

-- 
Tobias Conradi
Rheinsberger Str. 18
10115 Berlin
Germany

http://tobiasconradi.com

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From: Cyrus Daboo <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2014 15:31:00 -0400

Hi Tobias,

> What is the position of Cyrus? What is the position of the chairs?

I would be willing to do some re-organization but I don't want to get stuck 
writing a thesis on the meaning of "time zone".

The goal for the glossary entries was to come up with a brief summary of 
the meaning of the terms as far as is applicable to what the draft is 
trying to do. If we need anything more than that, then I would much rather 
point to an external reference for it.

The items in section 3 were items that needed more in depth description 
which is why they ended up there - i.e., there is more than just the 
definition of the term but also a description of what impact they have on 
the protocol.

-- 
Cyrus Daboo

---

From: Tobias Conradi <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2014 23:19:26 +0200

> writing a thesis on the meaning of "time zone".
OK.

> The goal for the glossary entries was to come up with a brief summary of the
> meaning of the terms as far as is applicable to what the draft is trying to
> do. If we need anything more than that, then I would much rather point to an
> external reference for it.

The proposal

2 Time Zone Data Terminology
  2.1.  Time Zone (from glossary)
  2.2.  Time Zone Data (from glossary)
  2.3.  Time Zone Data Server (from glossary)
  2.4.  Time Zone Name (new)
  2.4.1.  Time Zone Identifier (from glossary _and_ general cons.)
  2.4.2.  Time Zone Alias (from general cons.)
  2.4.5.  Time Zone Localized Name (from general cons.)
[maybe 2.4.5 should be 2.4.3]
  2.5. Observance

allows for keeping the formerly brief parts ("from glossary") brief. I
am not sure about the name of the section, but the proposed names
restricts it to "data" and keeps server capabilities and presentation
outside. Maybe "Time Zone Data Server" is therefore misplaced. But
that is easy to fix. If for any item in this TZ Data Terminology
section there is an external reference, then it can be linked.

The TZDIST shall deliver data, so it is a big help for implementers to
have a section that describes the data or has pointers to third party
definitions that TZDIST is following.

> definition of the term but also a description of what impact they have on

And "time zone identifier" ended up in both.

There is no data item "Comment", IIRC Lester mentioned comments
several times, and IIRC the IANA TZDB stores comments. So a comment
field might be needed to fully support the latter DB.

Then in section 8 there are data elements (Time Zone Upper Bound
TZUNTIL and Time Zone Identifier Alias Property TZID-ALIAS-OF), that
are not in the glossary. The former does not exist in "general
considerations" the latter has something related under "Time Zone
Aliases".

Then in
  3.  General Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     3.1.  Time Zone Identifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     3.2.  Time Zone Aliases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     3.3.  Time Zone Localized Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     3.4.  Truncating Time Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
three items are named after data elements and the forth is an action.

Could there be one section that lists all possible data elements, a
linkable subsection for each?

When draft-ietf-tzdist-service links to other documents, e.g. RFCs, it
benefits from the possibility that one can link to specific parts.
Wouldn't it be helpful for all future users of TZDIST to be able to
link to each element of time zone data that can be transmitted via
TZDIST?

-- 
Tobias Conradi
Rheinsberger Str. 18
10115 Berlin
Germany

http://tobiasconradi.com