Java SystemV timezones and JodaTime

Question

I am working with timezones in a Java application using JodaTime. I encounter a problem when trying to build a DateTimeZone (JodaTime) object from the id of a java timezone. Joda throws a

 java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: The datetime zone id 'SystemV/HST10' is not recognised

for the folowing list of timezones:

SystemV/HST10
SystemV/YST9
SystemV/YST9YDT
SystemV/PST8
SystemV/PST8PDT
SystemV/MST7
SystemV/MST7MDT
SystemV/CST6
SystemV/CST6CDT
SystemV/EST5
SystemV/EST5EDT
SystemV/AST4
SystemV/AST4ADT

What are these timezones used for? Are they relevant to non-programmers? Should an application designed for general uses support these timezones?

Thanks.

Where did you get this zones' ids? – Ilya May 21 '12 at 13:48 — Ilya, May 21 '12 at 13:48
It's what java.util.TimeZone.getAvailableIDs() returns. – sebi May 22 '12 at 06:38 — sebi, May 22 '12 at 06:38

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered May 22 '12 at 07:48

4

The SystemV time-zone IDs are old and deprecated. However, you can make Joda-Time understand them by re-compiling the joda-time jar file with the systemv time-zone data file included. See the commented out lines in the systemv data file. (ie. uncomment the lines and rebuild the jar file).

answered May 22 '12 at 07:48

JodaStephen

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Please check this [question](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12606502/exception-while-trying-to-recompile-joda-time-2-1-source) . – Emil Sep 26 '12 at 16:42

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered May 22 '12 at 06:52

I'll add this as a new post, as it provides the answers to my question. SystemV timezones were used in an old UNIX OS, that was named, you guessed it, UNIX SYSTEM V. After discussing with my team, we decided that they are of no importance to non-programers and even to programmers nowadays. So we decided not to use them in our application.

Some references about the SystemV timezones:

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered May 21 '12 at 13:48

You can simply convert java TimeZone to DateTimeZone, using method DateTimeZone#forTimeZone

TimeZone tz = //...  
DateTimeZone dtz = DateTimeZone.forTimeZone(tz);

Some of this zones can be parsed without "SystemV/"

So you can use

String tzId = "SystemV/MST7MDT";
DateTimeZone tz = DateTimeZone.forID(tzId.replaceAll("SystemV/", ""));

Also you can make next

TimeZone tz = TimeZone.getTimeZone("SystemV/MST7MDT");
DateTimeZone jodaTz = DateTimeZone.forTimeZone(tz);

Java SystemV timezones and JodaTime

3 Answers3

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