#944388 tzfile(5): missing field charcnt in description of fields after the header

Package:
manpages
Source:
manpages
Submitter:
Omer Zak
Date:
2023-12-23 13:51:03 UTC
Severity:
normal
Tags:
#944388#5
Date:
2019-11-09 00:00:58 UTC
From:
To:
In 'man 5 tzfile', after the header description, six fields are
described: tzh_timecnt*4, tzh_timecnt*1, tzh_typecnt*6, tzh_leapcnt*8,
tzh_ttisstdcnt*1, tzh_ttisgmtcnt*1.

According to https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc8536 (section 3.2. TZif
Data Block), there should be also a tzh_charcnt field after the first
three fields (i.e. total of seven fields).

I was bitten by this omission when developing a script to process files
following the tzfile format.
#944388#10
Date:
2022-01-27 20:01:02 UTC
From:
To:
The current manpage seems to match https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc8536,
and for tzh_charcnt it states

| tzh_charcnt
|        The number of bytes of time zone abbreviation strings stored in the file.

As such I think this bug could just be closed.

Hmm, I found tzh_charcnt to be listed in that manpage all the way back
to upstream 3.27, and according to rfc8536 that field is part of the
header. So maybe there was something missed when filing this bug?

Cheers,
Flo
#944388#15
Date:
2023-12-23 11:56:04 UTC
From:
To:
Hello Tobias,
Am Thu, Jan 27, 2022 at 09:01:02PM +0100 schrieb Florian Ernst:

I concur.

Well, the submitter did not responded in the last ~ 2 years (I
acknowledged, that he was not explicitly CCed, unfortuantely, by
Florian). So I would suggest to close it as well, speculating about
different potential bugs is not sensible.

Greetings

           Helge