packaging Time::OlsonTZ::Data

[Zefram]

Hi, I'd like to establish what's going to happen about packaging my CPAN
module Time::OlsonTZ::Data for OS distros.  I'm writing to (as far as I
can tell) the current Debian and Fedora maintainers of DateTime::TimeZone
packages, and I'm CCing the relevant perl.org mailing list.  We're now
getting close to replacing the current DateTime::TimeZone with a
rewrite that will use Time::OlsonTZ::Data as its source of Olson-derived
timezone data.

Iain Arnell raised an issue about T:OTZ:D not
coming in a true source form.  I've got a new
version of the wrapper system that I think resolves this.
<http://www.fysh.org/~zefram/tmp/Time-OlsonTZ-Data-0.20120201.tar.gz> is
a test version of the module distribution, which bundles (the important
parts of) the Olson database source, and the automation to build the
tzfiles, as well as bundling the prebuilt tzfiles.  I can't not bundle
the tzfiles, because this has to support Perl users in places where the
Olson build code can't be used (because it's Unix-specific and requires
a C compiler), but you can now throw away the tzfiles and build from
proper source.  This version of the module should be a better base from
which to customise the module, where you need to.  Please let me know
what you think of this arrangement.

I'll be releasing a new version of T:OTZ:D every time there's a new
Olson database release, as I have done for the past year and a half.
(The current version of DateTime::TimeZone is also on this release
schedule, but the rewrite won't be, having delegated the volatility
to T:OTZ:D.)  Sometimes Olson database updates are urgent, requiring
promulgation on a timescale of days, and T:OTZ:D updates will inherit
that urgency.  In Debian, T:OTZ:D ought to be handled through the
volatile-data mechanism.  Is that OK?  In Fedora, I don't know what you
do for such things.  Please discuss.

Somewhat interacting with the above, you have the option to apply the
T:OTZ:D automation to a new version of the Olson database independently
of my releases.  Iain Arnell suggested extending the existing tzdata
package to build a matching Time/OlsonTZ/Data.pm this way, not needing
a separate package for the module.  You'd also have it point at your
existing tzfiles in /usr/share/zoneinfo, rather than having a separate
copy.  That's quite feasible with the new form of the module distribution.

-zefram