Oracle Discontinues Free Java Time Zone Updates

New submitter Noel Trout writes "For a long time in the Java world, there has been a free tool called the 'tzupdater' or Time Zone Updater released as a free download first by Sun and then Oracle. This tool can be used to apply a patch to the Java runtime so that time zone information is correct. This is necessary since some time zones in the world are not static and change more frequently than one might think; in general time zone updates can be released maybe 4-6 times a year. The source information backing the Java timezone API comes from the open source Olson timezone database that is also used by many operating systems. For certain types of applications, you can understand that these updates are mission critical. For example, my company operates in the private aviation sector so we need to be able to display the correct local time at airports around the world. So, the interesting part is that Oracle has now decided to only release these updates if you have a Java SE support contract. Being Oracle, such licenses are far from cheap. In my opinion, this is a pretty serious change in stance for Oracle and amounts to killing free Java for certain types of applications, at least if you care about accuracy. We are talking about the core API class java.util.TimeZone. This begs the question, can you call an API free if you have to pay for it to return accurate information? What is the point of such an API? Should the community not expect that core Java classes are fully functional and accurate? I believe it is also a pretty bad move for Java adoption for these types of applications. If my company as a startup 10 years ago would have been presented with such a license fee, we almost certainly could not have chosen Java as our platform as we could not afford it."

Comments

IBM to the rescue

[Anonymous Coward]

IBM provides free access to the Olson database updates:

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/jdk/dst/jtzu.html

Was this post even necessary?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=java+olson+database

there's always Joda Time...

[tony.damato]

Some of our developers have switched to Joda Time classes as they're easier to use that those built into Java proper. They even give instructions on how to manually update the time zone tables. (We didn't develop the code, we're just happy customers): http://joda-time.sourceforge.net/

The database is called "Olson", you find it here

[ansak]

I clearly hadn't read more than the first few lines of the help on Java TimeZone info or I could have found out that the answer was already there, without having to wait for it. As another poster pointed out IBM already provides free Java timezone updates.

Let me google that for you! But more to the point, writing a tool that will grab those updates for yourself and storing it where you need it looks like a bash script or batch file candidate. Our brains are more than a match for Oracle's bean counters. Let's use them!

cheers...ank

Re:ORACLE = One Raging Asshole Called Larry Elliso

[Lehk228]

nothing is hidden

newlines are used in place of semicolons and indentation defines code blocks

in most other languages {} define code blocks and indentation implies code blocks to the reader, sometimes misleading the reader.

How to update TZs

[Dj]

Firstly, Oracle are still updating timezones as always in updates to the JDK/JRE.

From an old Oracle post though there is this guide

https://blogs.oracle.com/coffeys/entry/want_the_latest_tzdata_support

Which breaks down the process for folks who want to build their own TZ updating tool.

Re:Cannot someone else do the updates ?

[goofy183]

Joda already provides their own TZ update mechanism: http://joda-time.sourceforge.net/tz_update.html

Also anyone NOT using Joda for dates/times in Java really needs to come to the light and experience the wonders of a well designed API.