blob: d387551c9355bb788881f009217a29ac2f165066 [file] [log] [blame]
diff --git a/source/common/wintz.cpp b/source/common/wintz.cpp
index 580cedad..ebf31650 100644
--- a/source/common/wintz.cpp
+++ b/source/common/wintz.cpp
@@ -124,10 +124,26 @@ uprv_detectWindowsTimeZone()
// No way to support when DST is turned off and the offset in minutes is not a multiple of 60.
if (utcOffsetMins % 60 == 0) {
char gmtOffsetTz[11] = {}; // "Etc/GMT+dd" is 11-char long with a terminal null.
- // Note '-' before 'utcOffsetMin'. The timezone ID's sign convention
- // is that a timezone ahead of UTC is Etc/GMT-<offset> and a timezone
- // behind UTC is Etc/GMT+<offset>.
- int ret = snprintf(gmtOffsetTz, UPRV_LENGTHOF(gmtOffsetTz), "Etc/GMT%+ld", -utcOffsetMins / 60);
+ // Important note on the sign convention for zones:
+ //
+ // From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tz_database#Area
+ // "In order to conform with the POSIX style, those zone names beginning with "Etc/GMT" have their sign reversed
+ // from the standard ISO 8601 convention. In the "Etc" area, zones west of GMT have a positive sign and those
+ // east have a negative sign in their name (e.g "Etc/GMT-14" is 14 hours ahead of GMT)."
+ //
+ // Regarding the POSIX style, from https://www.gnu.org/software/libc/manual/html_node/TZ-Variable.html
+ // "The offset specifies the time value you must add to the local time to get a Coordinated Universal Time value."
+ //
+ // However, the Bias value in DYNAMIC_TIME_ZONE_INFORMATION *already* follows the POSIX convention.
+ //
+ // From https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/timezoneapi/ns-timezoneapi-dynamic_time_zone_information
+ // "The bias is the difference, in minutes, between Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and
+ // local time. All translations between UTC and local time are based on the following formula:
+ // UTC = local time + bias"
+ //
+ // For example, a time zone that is 3 hours ahead of UTC (UTC+03:00) would have a Bias value of -180, and the
+ // corresponding time zone ID would be "Etc/GMT-3". (So there is no need to negate utcOffsetMins below.)
+ int ret = snprintf(gmtOffsetTz, UPRV_LENGTHOF(gmtOffsetTz), "Etc/GMT%+ld", utcOffsetMins / 60);
if (ret > 0 && ret < UPRV_LENGTHOF(gmtOffsetTz)) {
return uprv_strdup(gmtOffsetTz);
}