Re: timeofday() and CAST

Mr. Lane,

I've been taking a look at documentation about timezones (Appendix A/Time
Zone Abbreviations) and it seems that BRT is really missing in that list.
Isn't Brazil important/big enough to have at least BRT and BRST timezones
supported from PostgreSQL? IMHO maybe it's time for a more robust support
for timezones, because maybe more people from other countries are getting
the same problem in newer PostgreSQL releases, since timestamps from strings
are not so flexible as they were in older releases.

Here is a list of Brazilian timezones.

# Zone NAME GMTOFF RULES FORMAT [UNTIL]
#
# Atlantic islands: Fernando de Noronha, Trindade, Martin Vaz,
# Atol das Rocas, and Penedos de Sao Pedro e Sao Paulo
Zone America/Noronha -2:09:40 - LMT 1914
-2:00 Brazil FN%sT 1990 Sep 17
-2:00 - FNT
#
# Amapa (AP), east Para (PA)
# East Para includes Belem, Maraba, Serra Norte, and Sao Felix do Xingu.
Zone America/Belem -3:13:56 - LMT 1914
-3:00 Brazil BR%sT 1988 Sep 12
-3:00 - BRT
#
# Maranhao (MA), Piaui (PI), Ceara (CE), Rio Grande do Norte (RN),
# Paraiba (PB)
Zone America/Fortaleza -2:34:00 - LMT 1914
-3:00 Brazil BR%sT 1990 Sep 17
-3:00 - BRT 1999 Sep 30
-3:00 Brazil BR%sT 2000 Oct 22
-3:00 - BRT 2001 Sep 13
-3:00 Brazil BR%sT
#
# Pernambuco (PE) (except Atlantic islands)
Zone America/Recife -2:19:36 - LMT 1914
-3:00 Brazil BR%sT 1990 Sep 17
-3:00 - BRT 1999 Sep 30
-3:00 Brazil BR%sT 2000 Oct 15
-3:00 - BRT 2001 Sep 13
-3:00 Brazil BR%sT
#
# Tocantins (TO)
Zone America/Araguaina -3:12:48 - LMT 1914
-3:00 Brazil BR%sT 1990 Sep 17
-3:00 - BRT 1995 Sep 14
-3:00 Brazil BR%sT
#
# Alagoas (AL), Sergipe (SE)
Zone America/Maceio -2:22:52 - LMT 1914
-3:00 Brazil BR%sT 1990 Sep 17
-3:00 - BRT 1995 Oct 13
-3:00 Brazil BR%sT 1996 Sep 4
-3:00 - BRT 1999 Sep 30
-3:00 Brazil BR%sT 2000 Oct 22
-3:00 - BRT 2001 Sep 13
-3:00 Brazil BR%sT
#
# Bahia (BA), Goias (GO), Distrito Federal (DF), Minas Gerais (MG),
# Espirito Santo (ES), Rio de Janeiro (RJ), Sao Paulo (SP), Parana (PR),
# Santa Catarina (SC), Rio Grande do Sul (RS)
Zone America/Sao_Paulo -3:06:28 - LMT 1914
-3:00 Brazil BR%sT 1963 Oct 23 00:00
-3:00 1:00 BRST 1964
-3:00 Brazil BR%sT
#
# Mato Grosso (MT), Mato Grosso do Sul (MS)
Zone America/Cuiaba -3:44:20 - LMT 1914
-4:00 Brazil AM%sT
#
# west Para (PA), Rondonia (RO)
# West Para includes Altamira, Oribidos, Prainha, Oriximina, and Santarem.
Zone America/Porto_Velho -4:15:36 - LMT 1914
-4:00 Brazil AM%sT 1988 Sep 12
-4:00 - AMT
#
# Roraima (RR)
Zone America/Boa_Vista -4:02:40 - LMT 1914
-4:00 Brazil AM%sT 1988 Sep 12
-4:00 - AMT 1999 Sep 30
-4:00 Brazil AM%sT 2000 Oct 15
-4:00 - AMT
#
# east Amazonas (AM): Boca do Acre, Jutai, Manaus, Floriano Peixoto
Zone America/Manaus -4:00:04 - LMT 1914
-4:00 Brazil AM%sT 1988 Sep 12
-4:00 - AMT 1993 Sep 28
-4:00 Brazil AM%sT 1994 Sep 22
-4:00 - AMT
#
# west Amazonas (AM): Atalaia do Norte, Boca do Maoco, Benjamin Constant,
# Eirunepe, Envira, Ipixuna
Zone America/Eirunepe -4:39:28 - LMT 1914
-5:00 Brazil AC%sT 1988 Sep 12
-5:00 - ACT 1993 Sep 28
-5:00 Brazil AC%sT 1994 Sep 22
-5:00 - ACT
#
# Acre (AC)
Zone America/Rio_Branco -4:31:12 - LMT 1914
-5:00 Brazil AC%sT 1988 Sep 12
-5:00 - ACT

Best Regards

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Lane" <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us>
To: "Vilson farias" <vilson(dot)farias(at)digitro(dot)com(dot)br>
Cc: <pgsql-general(at)postgresql(dot)org>; "SIMONE Carla MOSENA"
<simone(dot)mosena(at)digitro(dot)com(dot)br>; <paulo(dot)pizarro(at)digitro(dot)com(dot)br>
Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2003 11:40 AM
Subject: Re: [GENERAL] timeofday() and CAST

> "Vilson farias" <vilson(dot)farias(at)digitro(dot)com(dot)br> writes:
> > #### PostgreSQL 7.3.4 ####
>
> > bxs=# SELECT timeofday();
> > timeofday
> > -------------------------------------
> > Thu Aug 21 10:04:18.215420 2003 BRT
> > (1 row)
>
> > bxs=# SELECT CAST(timeofday() AS timestamp);
> > ERROR: Bad timestamp external representation 'Thu Aug 21
10:04:42.597819
> > 2003 BRT'
> > bxs=#
>
> It's unhappy about "BRT", which is not a known timezone name. Not sure
> why the earlier version didn't complain too.
>
> regards, tom lane
>
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