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Timezone Data Distribution Service
charter-ietf-tzdist-00-04

The information below is for an older proposed charter
Document Proposed charter Timezone Data Distribution Service WG (tzdist) Snapshot
Title Timezone Data Distribution Service
Last updated 2014-07-06
State Start Chartering/Rechartering (Internal Steering Group/IAB Review)
WG State Proposed
IESG Responsible AD Barry Leiba
Charter edit AD Barry Leiba
Send notices to cyrus@daboo.name

charter-ietf-tzdist-00-04

Time Zone Data Distribution Service (tzdist)


Time zone data is a critical element of computer systems and devices that
make use of local time. In particular, it is critical to any calendaring
and scheduling system, such as iCalendar (RFC 5545). Daylight saving
time rules, which affect local UTC offsets, can change - sometimes at
very short notice (just a few days) - as those rules are typically
defined by political processes. Currently, there is no efficient, fast
way to ensure that time zone data is updated in a timely and reliable
manner on devices that need it. Time zone changes are often delivered as
operating system updates, and are thus tied to release schedules that
can trail the actual time zone changes by a significant period of time. A
service is needed that can provide timely, reliable updates.

One added benefit of such a service for iCalendar is the ability for
calendaring clients and servers to agree on common, standard definitions
of time zone data, removing the need to pass time zone data directly "by
value" in iCalendar data. By allowing clients and servers to use
time zones "by reference" significant network bandwidth and storage
savings can be achieved.

This working group will:

  • Define a time zone data distribution protocol that allows for
    efficient, timely updates of time zone data to be delivered to clients.
    This protocol must scale to vast numbers of clients, such as the
    potential "internet of things" devices, as well as to today's desktop
    computers and servers.

  • Define an extension to CalDAV (RFC 4791) to allow clients and servers
    to use time zones "by reference" to improve the efficiency of the overall
    protocol.

The working group will use the following drafts as initial input for its
work:
draft-douglass-timezone-service-11
draft-daboo-caldav-timezone-ref-01

The working group will work under the following parameters:

  • The time zone data distribution protocol will initially be targeted at
    iCalendar-based clients, but should be flexible enough to deliver
    time zone data in other formats.

  • The time zone data will be based on the Time Zone Database
    (http://www.iana.org/time-zones) but must be able to include any source
    of time zone data.

  • The time zone data distribution protocol should also offer an API to
    allow thin clients to easily make use of time zone data by querying for
    UTC offsets, offloading the sometimes complex work of expanding
    recurrence rules to the service. This API should be extensible to
    support other types of time zone operations in the future.

  • The time zone data distribution protocol will use current security
    protocols to protect the integrity and confidentiality of what is
    distributed. Even public time zone data can represent a significant
    privacy exposure when it is associated with the user or endpoint that
    is retrieving it.

The following are Out of scope for the working group:

  • Any changes to the Time Zone Database process or infrastructure,
    as documented in RFC 6557, other than recommendations for possible
    security enhancements.

  • The naming process for time zone identifiers. The working group can
    consider adding a mechanism, such as a "namespace" prefix, to
    differentiate different time zone sources, but the nature of the time zone
    identifiers used will be controlled by the sources themselves.

  • Lookup protocols or APIs to map a location to a time zone.