DSTaware

DSTaware is a data service and software project that maintains a centralized, up-to-date database of daylight saving time rules and other time zone information worldwide. It is intended for software developers, businesses, researchers, and systems that require accurate time calculations for scheduling, logging, and compliance.

The DSTaware database covers more than 200 regions and documents DST start and end dates, UTC offsets, and historical changes. It provides data in multiple formats, including JSON, XML, CSV, and iCal, and supports integration with common programming languages through client libraries and RESTful APIs. The project also maintains a change history and versioned releases to assist audits and reproducibility.

History and governance: DSTaware originated as a community-driven project in the early 2010s. It is governed by the DSTaware Foundation, a nonprofit organization that coordinates contributors and releases. The foundation coordinates data validation, licensing, and updates, coordinating with standards bodies and other time zone data providers. Updates are published regularly to reflect government announcements and policy changes impacting DST rules.

Licensing and access: DSTaware offers a tiered access model. An open data edition provides non-commercial and educational use under a permissive license. Commercial users may subscribe to paid plans for higher request quotas, enterprise-grade SLAs, and additional data products such as historical DST rule sets and migration planning tools.

Impact and related work: Many calendar, scheduling, and payroll systems rely on DSTaware-derived data to ensure correct local times across regions. The project complements established time zone data sources like IANA tzdata and other providers. See also: IANA time zone database; tzdata.