[ruby-core:23002] Re: Ruby Time

valodzka wrote:
>> No, that's not all.  You then have to beg every single website on this planet
>> installing ruby to update your library, every time that script runs.
> On systems where tz database already installed (this is FreeBSD,
> NetBSD, OpenBSD, DragonFly BSD, Mac OS X, most Linux  distributions,
> BeOS, AIX and more [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tz_database]) library
> can be easy configured on compilation time or runtime to use system tz
> database, and after that thats's problem of OS maintainers. This
> covers, I think, about 99% of systems. For others, yes, you should
> publish announcement, but this can be also handled in automated mode.

I think you'd better try that anyway.  Tips: don't forget Windows.

>> Isn't it incomplete to say you can "get time in particular place" because we
>> actually experience 1:30 in EDT?
> Unfortunately, I haven't understood your example. Why it can't handle?

Soryy, I thought EDT was -0500.  Then can you show me how to generate
Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:30:00 EST ?

>>> 2) Time, except small range, remains unportable between different
>>> platforms.
>> That's unavoidable.  Time is, or at least has an aspect of, an interface
>> between ruby and a platform.
> That's unavoidable only in two places - requiring current time and
> current time zone. Everything else can be handled (and has handled) in
> library.

Don't forget there are many methods that return Time objects: File.atime,
File.mtime, File.ctime, ...