TZ database version

[computerquip]

This might be a duplicate of #120 but the entire library doesn't need to be updated in order to update timezone information, only the timezone resource files. I'm unsure how this is shipped so I could be incorrect on this.

I started creating a custom tzdb using libicu directly for use with date/tz, similar to how STL does it for std::chrono and ended up with a hard realization that the TZ database included with the version of libicu shipped on Windows is over 2 years out of date at this point, shipping with version 2021a of the IANA database.

So my question is straight forward, is this library meant to be used as a reliable TZ database for Windows?

• If not, could I be redirected on what the appropriate way to go about this on Windows is?
• If so, is it okay that the TZ data is 2 years out of date? If it's problematic, could I request the database be updated more regularly, even if the core libicu is not kept up-to-date with upstream?
• Am I even in the right place to request any of this? I feel like a lost child if I'm honest.

References:

• Raymond Chen appears to claim that the globalization team recommends not using Windows identifiers except for legacy cases.

Somewhat Related:

• Windows and IANA Olson IDs HowardHinnant/date#771 (comment)

[yuryu]

Any update on this from the maintainers? Can we expect future updates to the tz database in icu.dll? I'm writing a patch for https://github.com/google/cctz (which is used by https://abseil.io/) to support windows google/cctz#53 and trying to figure out if it's a good source of zoneinfo on Windows.