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zic(8)

NAME

     zic -- timezone compiler

SYNOPSIS

     zic [--version] [-Dsv] [-d directory] [-g group] [-L leapsecondfilename]
	 [-l localtime] [-m mode] [-p posixrules] [-u user] [-y command]
	 [filename ...]

DESCRIPTION

     The zic utility 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.

     The following options are available:

     --version
	     Output version information and exit.

     -D      Do not automatically create directories.  If the input file(s)
	     specify an output file in a directory which does not already
	     exist, the default behavior is to attempt to create the direc-
	     tory.  If -D is specified, zic will instead error out immedi-
	     ately.

     -d directory
	     Create time conversion information files in the named directory
	     rather than in the standard directory named below.

     -g group
	     After creating each output file, change its group ownership to
	     the specified group (which can be either a name or a numeric
	     group ID).

     -L leapsecondfilename
	     Read leap second information from the file with the given name.
	     If this option is not used, no leap second information appears in
	     output files.

     -l timezone
	     Use the given time zone as local time.  The zic utility will act
	     as if the input contained a link line of the form

		   Link    timezone		   localtime
	     (Note that this action has no effect on FreeBSD, since the local
	     time zone is specified in /etc/localtime and not
	     /usr/share/zoneinfo/localtime.)

     -m mode
	     After creating each output file, change its access mode to mode.
	     Both numeric and alphabetic modes are accepted (see chmod(1)).

     -p timezone
	     Use the given time zone's rules when handling POSIX-format time
	     zone environment variables.  The zic utility will act as if the
	     input contained a link line of the form

		   Link    timezone		   posixrules
     -s      Limit time values stored in output files to values that are the
	     same whether they're taken to be signed or unsigned.  You can use
	     this option to generate SVVS-compatible files.

     -y command
	     Use the given command rather than yearistype when checking year
	     types (see below).

     Input lines are made up of fields.  Fields are separated from one another
     by any number of white space characters.  Leading and trailing white
     space on input lines is ignored.  An unquoted sharp character (#) in the
     input introduces a comment which extends to the end of the line the sharp
     character appears on.  White space characters and sharp characters 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 US   1967 1973 -    Apr  lastSun   2:00 1:00 D

     The fields that make up a rule line are:

	   NAME      Give the (arbitrary) name of the set of rules this rule
		     is part of.

	   FROM      Give the first year in which the rule applies.  Any inte-
		     ger year can be supplied; the Gregorian calendar is
		     assumed.  The word minimum (or an abbreviation) means the
		     minimum year representable as an integer.	The word
		     maximum (or an abbreviation) means the maximum year rep-
		     resentable as an integer.	Rules can describe times that
		     are not representable as time values, with the unrepre-
		     sentable times ignored; this allows rules to be portable
		     among hosts with differing time value types.

	   TO	     Give the final year in which the rule applies.  In addi-
		     tion to minimum and maximum (as above), the word only (or
		     an abbreviation) may be used to repeat the value of the
		     FROM field.

	   TYPE      Give 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 something else, then zic exe-
		     cutes 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.

	   IN	     Name the month in which the rule takes effect.  Month
		     names may be abbreviated.

	   ON	     Give the day on which the rule takes effect.  Recognized
		     forms include:

			   5	    the fifth of the month

	   AT	     Give 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

		     where hour 0 is midnight at the start of the day, and
		     hour 24 is midnight at the end of the day.  Any of these
		     forms may be followed by the letter `w' if the given time
		     is local ``wall clock'' time, `s' if the given time is
		     local ``standard'' time, or `u' (or `g' or `z') if the
		     given time is universal time; in the absence of an indi-
		     cator, wall clock time is assumed.

	   SAVE      Give 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  Give 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:
	   Zone NAME GMTOFF    RULES/SAVE     FORMAT	[UNTIL]
     For example:
	   Zone Australia/Adelaide  9:30 Aus  CST  1971 Oct 31 2:00
     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 UTC 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 UTC.

     RULES/SAVE
	     The name of the rule(s) that apply in the time zone or, alter-
	     nately, 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.  Alternately, a slash (/)
	     separates standard and daylight abbreviations.

     UNTIL   The time at which the UTC 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 gen-
	     erated from the given UTC offset and rule change until the time
	     specified.  The month, day, and time of day have the same format
	     as the IN, ON, and AT columns of a rule; trailing columns can be
	     omitted, and default to the earliest possible value for the miss-
	     that the next line is a further continuation.

     A link line has the form
	   Link LINK-FROM LINK-TO
     For example:
	   Link Europe/Istanbul     Asia/Istanbul
     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.

     Lines in the file that describes leap seconds have the following form:
	   Leap YEAR MONTH     DAY  HH:MM:SS  CORR R/S
     For example:
	   Leap 1974 Dec  31   23:59:60  +    S
     The YEAR, MONTH, DAY, and HH:MM:SS fields tell when the leap second hap-
     pened.  The CORR field should be ``+'' if a second was added or ``-'' if
     a second was skipped.  The R/S field should be (an abbreviation of)
     ``Stationary'' if the leap second time given by the other fields should
     be interpreted as UTC or (an abbreviation of) ``Rolling'' if the leap
     second time given by the other fields should be interpreted as local wall
     clock time.

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.

FILES

     /usr/share/zoneinfo  standard directory used for created files

SEE ALSO

     ctime(3), tzfile(5), zdump(8)

FreeBSD 5.4			 June 20, 2004			   FreeBSD 5.4

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