In more detailed information, the motivation to remove the lib / zi directory from Java versions, starting with version 1.8, clearly reduces the maintenance burden. The lib / zi directory, introduced in 1.4, and the new tzdb.dat file, introduced in 1.8, are expensive to maintain. See also this letter from the JSR-310 Mailing List Archive .
Another reason is the motivation formulated in JEP 151 , the purpose of which was to reduce the print footprint and the launch time of the lib / zi library. This goal was finally accomplished by dropping the lib / zi library in favor of the more compact new tzdb.dat file, which is about 100 kB in size.
Keep in mind that the old lib / zi structure generated shear transitions until 2037. This restriction has its origin in the use of restricted integer types, therefore, so far not in the future the whole structure is already outdated and would require general refactoring if Oracle decided to keep it.
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