Re: [calsify] JSCalendar duration vs. end time

[Doug Royer <[e-mail]>]

On 2/14/19 9:02 AM, Robert Stepanek wrote:
> During CalConnect XLIV in Zurich last week, discussion arose if the 
> JSCalendar duration property is enough to define the time span of an 
> event, or if an end time should be allowed as well (see the latest 
> spec here <https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-calext-jscalendar-11>).

This was a big debate at the time 2445 was coming out. The argument was 
that DURATION is a finite length of time. And that DTEND is a variable 
amount of time.

My argument against DTEND was:

DTSTART:2am DTEND:2am looks meaningless, except on the date when the 
clock kicks back 1 hour in which case it is a 1 hour meeting. And for 
recurring meetings, 6 months later it is a zero seconds long meeting.

Similar with: DTSTART:2am DTEND:1:30am for a 30-minute meeting on 
daylight saving change date.

Now throw in recurrences that happen to span those two dates and time 
zone change issues per year.

DTSTART:2am DURATION:1-hour makes sense to a person reading it.

Many argued that the ~odd~ DTSTART/DTEND may be desirable. I doubt 
anyone ever used it on purpose.

So they are not always equal. I argued for only one to exist, obviously 
I was in the minority.

I have always been in favor of deprecating DTEND.

However - iCalendar is the spec, and other representations of it, must 
adhere to whatever the latest spec says, or the result will be the IETF 
has 2 or more 'iCalendar' specifications.

-- 

--
Doug Royer (http://DougRoyer.US http://SoftwareAndServices.US)