Post by @alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

@alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

2026-05-08 13:22 UTC

If you’re implementing a timezone selector after handling all continents, oceans, and pseudo-macro regions… don’t forget Büsingen am Hochrhein 😄 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%BCsingen_am_Hochrhein A tiny German town of fewer than 1,500 people, completely surrounded by Switzerland. Fun historical timezone trivia: Büsingen is associated with Europe/Zurich instead of Europe/Berlin. Why? In 1980, West Germany introduced DST, but Switzerland initially did not. For a few months: Germany was UTC+2 Switzerland stayed UTC+1 and Büsingen followed Swiss time to avoid daily chaos with the surrounding area. That historical difference is still reflected in the tz database today. #coding 👨‍💻 #timezone 🌐 #freebsd #unix #time 🕜 #sysadmin 🖥️ #germany 🇩🇪 #Berlin #Switzerland 🇨🇭 #Zurich

Replies (13)

@alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe 2026-05-08 13:27

Büsingen in the tz database: https://github.com/freebsd/freebsd-src/blob/main/contrib/tzdata/zone1970.tab#L124

Open ##2316071
@ChrisUplus@chaos.social 2026-05-08 13:28

@alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe thank you for teaching us about this curiosity. I had no idea. Made my day :awesome:

Open ##2316074
@7heo@ieji.de 2026-05-08 15:35

@alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe Funny, I wondered exactly about this case just a few hours ago.

Open ##2316076
@lemutsch@typo.social 2026-05-08 19:53

@alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe there‘s a whole range of documentation shorts about non-casual border situations. enjoy here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlQWnS27jXh-RHHmCLg5EhQjr7wR2-xdb&si=lmM9xIXe7uBoskIK

Open ##2316077
@goblin@mastodon.bsd.cafe 2026-05-08 22:31

@alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe As a German, I always wondered about this sentence and where it came from. TIL, thank you very much!

Open ##2316078
@the_wub@mastodon.social 2026-05-09 07:33

@alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe Although there is no time difference between Belgium and The Netherlands the existence of Büsingen am Hochrhein reminded me of this set of enclaves. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baarle-Nassau

Open ##2316079
@ainmosni@social.ainmosni.eu 2026-05-09 12:12

@alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe Insert Tom Scott video about timezones here.

Open ##2316081
@sbeyer@ioc.exchange 2026-05-09 13:34

@alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe From a historical point of view this is interesting and somehow funny, but: isn't that now in the past? It is still necessary to handle Büsingen differently? Or am I missing something?

Open ##2316082
@chaos0815@phpc.social 2026-05-09 15:27

@alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe I knew about the special VAT rates, but a different time zone?

Open ##2316090
@paaast@mastodon.social 2026-05-09 17:07

@alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe cc: @dlx@mastodon.social @343max@mastodon.social 😅

Open ##2316091
@jyrgenn@mas.to 2026-05-09 17:09

@alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe Thank you for mentioning that! I have always wondered why this popped up now and then. Most likely at exact that point in a FreeBSD installation.

Open ##2316092
@heals@indiepocalypse.social 2026-05-10 08:19

@alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe I always wondered why Proxmox gave me that choice during install xD Thanks for the explainer! /cc @helge@mastodon.social

Open ##2337742
@rotherstuebs@foojay.social 2026-05-11 07:04

@alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe So, timezones are another falsehood developers should consider (in addition to names and locations and time) #coding #timezone #freebsd #unix #time #sysadmin #germany #Berlin #Switzerland #Zurich

Open ##2395618