I've been thinking about the complaint here: http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2008-07/msg00201.php and I think that the real issue boils down to the fact that timestamp input checks a name against the timezone abbrevs list first, and the zic database second; whereas the various forms of AT TIME ZONE do the lookup in the other order. I am not sure what the original rationale for that behavior was, if indeed it was thought through at all --- but what I think now is we should change AT TIME ZONE to check for abbrevs first. Consistency suggests that both lookups should produce the same result, and given that timestamp input is far more heavily used than AT TIME ZONE, changing the behavior of the latter seems safest. I'm inclined to think that the timestamp input behavior is more correct anyway: to me "midnight EST" means midnight standard time, regardless of whether daylight savings time is in force or not.
Should we consider this a bug and back-patch it, or just fix it for 8.4 and later? regards, tom lane -- Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers