Synchronizing with the Olson TZ database

I'm designing a calendar application

I figured out that to work correctly with at least future events, I need the data in the Olson db. I also figured out that I want to store it in my own db table, and synchronize this table with the Olson db periodically.

What would be a good approach for this synchron开发者_如何学Goization?

• Anybody aware of a ready component for converting the Olson text files into a db table?
• I heard about this data being already embedded in some way into unix systems. Is this true? Is there an easy way to get the data from unix to the DB?
• Will using the "compiled" version of the Olson files be helpful?
• any other ideas are wellcome

We are working with php, Yii, mysql

(I'm aware of the Daylight saving time and time zone best practices thread, and many other related questions, but didn't find an answer to this particular question)

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This blog entry is about creating an iCalendar component for the Zend Framework. When it came to Time Zone definitions, his solution was to use the Olson TZ database together with vzic, which converts the Olson timezones to iCalendar timezones.