Subj : Unix point?
To   : mark lewis
From : Maurice Kinal
Date : Fri Jan 14 2022 05:30 am

Hey mark!

ml> i have to wonder about the TZ control line having seconds in it

It is based on a system that is still on the books but fell out of use back in 1916.  It definetly allows for seconds as well as deploying the '+' character for west of prime meridian and '-' for east opposite of the TZUTC kludge.

ml> TZUTC is in place to clarify the time stamp in the message
ml> header since it is local time with no other indication of where
ml> "local" is...

Understood.  Without the '+' character it becomes a meaningless string.  Effectively it has been castrated.

ml> have you looked at any of the other PKT and packed message
ml> formats?

Type 2, 2+ and 2.2.  2.2 only works with one of my uplinks.  However this has nothing to do with utc offsets which are part of the msg body.

ml> +2 + +2 = +4

Fine for numbers but lousy for strings.

 TZUTC1 + TZUTC2 = ?!?!?!?!?!?!

What in the name of strftime() is confusing you?  You appear to be suffering from the same affliction as everyone east of prime meridian (castration?).  +0000 is a string (N)ot (a) (N)umber (<- NaN).  Stripping off the '+' character effectively corrupts it.

ml> really??

Yes.  Basic programming skills inform me that strings are not numbers even if they look like numbers.  The utc offset *is* a string ... or at least real life ones are.

Life is good,
Maurice

... Gemyne mærþo, mægenellen cyð, waca wið wraþum.
   Think of glory, show great courage, keep watch against the foe.
--- GNU bash, version 5.1.8(1)-release (x86_64-moosile-linux-gnu)
* Origin: One of us @ (1:153/7001.2989)