Re: [FEATURE REQUEST] Timezone support in org-mode datestamps and org-agenda

[Samuel Wales]

sounds complex.  but if timestamp syntax is to be changed, my personal
"like a broken record" view is that possibly extensible syntax could
be used, depending on the number of places ts parsing is done
currently.

i.e. on whether current ts parsing is intermingled in core org code
with ts semantics and scattered all over org.  although, i suspect a
lot o that woul dneed changing if you wanted to iplement tz anyway.

org has kept deveoping new syntax; es was designed to stop that being
necessary.  i prefer less proliferation.  es allows a maximal amount
of flexibility using the same code for handling every aspect of it.
it is sexp data.

thus if favorable and tz is still desirable perhaps those who want to
use timezones would use es for tses, and a :tz keyword.  if desired
the org buffer can look like today's tses with whatever tz cookie
syntax you want.  it would not need any parsing.  it would be
analogous to links not showing their brackets/url.  the cookie would
be for presentation only so need only be a line or two of code.

still, adding tz semantics to all of org's features and packages and
personal code for those who want it sounds complex.


On 1/13/23, Daryl Manning <daryl@wakatara.com> wrote:
> Following on from thread at
> https://www.reddit.com/r/orgmode/comments/zrppqw/
>
> [First off, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that works on
> org-mode. It is a wonder.]
>
> While I realize a few kicks at this can may have been taken, I wanted to
> (re-)propose Timezone support in org-mode. The world is much less local
> these days and we're all more remote and coordinating globally these days.
>
> *Background*
>
> 1. org-time-stamp-formats TZ currently only affects display and exports
> 2. org-agenda itself is not TZ aware
> 3. Several discussions on this have taken place over time
> 4. Concerns raise included breaking backwards compatibility
>
> *Proposal*
>
> 1. org-mode sets an optional variable (org-timezone-aware t) which enables
> TZ
> 2. org-agenda needs a way to determine which timezone it is in
> 3. Once enabled, any timestamp not exhibiting a TZ in it is considered
> "local time" wherever that is (I do not think UTC would work for this)
> 4. org-agenda can calc local based on TZ differences
>
> I understand this is by no means trivial and quite gnarly with DST and such
> to figure out but I do believe libs exists to deal with that heavy lifting.
> Currently, it does feel like a hole in org-mode as a 21st century organizer
> (disclaimer: digital nomading so might feel it more keenly). Also, just
> interested in making org-mode a more awesome tool for everybody.
>
> I'd love an understanding of the alluded to reservations raised in the
> reddit thread and in the mailing list threads mentioned that the format
> change might break things (I was unsure if that was referring to say, how
> time ranges were handled, or how say date ranges got dealt with (for
> example, say a flight from Singapore to Vancouver which takes off in one
> time zone and lands in another - something that is often in my cal.).
>
> thanks!
> Daryl.
>


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