Re: [COMMITTERS] pgsql: Add configure option --with-system-tzdata to use operating system

Peter Eisentraut <peter_e(at)gmx(dot)net> writes:
> Gregory Stark wrote:
>> Why would --with-zoneinfo want to use a symlink though? Shouldn't it
>> just compile the binary to use the path specified directly?

> The way this question is posed appears to imply that doing the latter is
> easier, but it's not. If someone wants to do the extra work, maybe
> that would help support more cases.

AFAICS it would support fewer cases. Hardwiring /usr/share/zoneinfo
into the binary is isomorphic to having it use a symlink defined that
way, as far as the objections to absolute symlinks go. And once it's
hardwired you can't change it without recompiling, which means no go
for hacks like the one I did involving supplying a different symlink
for "make check".

The larger point of my post was really that there are enough
packaging-specific considerations involved in doing this that
--with-system-tzdata is just not going to be a widely useful solution.
My advice is to take it out, not make it more baroque. You won't
be doing packagers any favors by turning the code they have to patch
into a moving target.

regards, tom lane