Tom, Oliver,
I haven't finished writing up my ideas for INTERVAL. However, here's
something to get started:
PROPOSAL FOR ADJUSTMENTS OF POSTGRESQL TIMESTAMP AND INTERVAL HANDLING
Draft 0.1 - Part 1
Timestamp
------------------------------
Proposal #1: TIMESTAMP WITHOUT TIME ZONE as default
Description: Currently, the data type invoked when users select TIMESTAMP is
TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE. We should change this so that TIMESTAMP defaults
to TIMESTAMP WITHOUT TIME ZONE unless WITH TIME ZONE is specificied.
Reason: Handling time zones is tricky and non-intuitive for the beginning
user. TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE should be reserved for DBAs who know what
they're doing.
Proposal #2: We need more time zones.
Description: We need to add, or be able to add, many new time zones to
Postgresql. Ideal would be some kind of "create time zone" statement.
Reason: Current included time zones do not cover all real-world time zones,
and the situation is likely to get worse as various governments play with
their calendars. For example, there is no current time zone which would be
appropriate for the state of Arizona, i.e. "Central Standard Time without
Daylight Savings Time".
Further: A CREATE TIME ZONE statement would have the following syntax:
CREATE TIME ZONE GMT_adjustment, abbreviation, uses_DST, DST_starts
(optional), DST_ends (optional)
This would allow, to some degree, DBA creation of time zones to take into
account local laws and wierdnesses.
--
-Josh Berkus