The ICU timezone data in Fuchsia is provided dynamically through the ICU data files (icudtl.dat). These are loaded on demand by programs, provided that the program's package is configured to make the file available to the program at runtime.
Section below shows how to do that.
In order for the ICU data files to be visible to a program in Fuchsia, it first needs to be made available in the package that contains the program. This is an example use from the wisdom server.
{%includecode gerrit_repo="fuchsia/fuchsia" gerrit_path="garnet/examples/intl/wisdom/rust/server/BUILD.gn" region_tag="icudata" adjust_indentation="auto" %}
Note the section that adds a resource for icudtl.dat.
{%includecode gerrit_repo="fuchsia/fuchsia" gerrit_path="garnet/examples/intl/wisdom/rust/server/BUILD.gn" region_tag="icudata_resource" adjust_indentation="auto" %}
Since the library's footprint can be large, we do not simply import it as a public dependency on any rust program that uses ICU.
In development you may need to check or set the time zone ID. The program setui_client allows you to do exactly this. See more information about setui_client by running run setui_client.cmx intl --help on a target.
You must load the ICU data in your program to make the locale data available. If you do not do that, no locale data will be available, and your ICU code will behave as if the set of i18n data is empty.
The APIs to load the code made available are different per language, so please refer to the pages below for specific examples:
In Rust, you should use the icu_data::Loader, which will automatically do the right thing. Here is an example from the ICU data tests showing this approach.
Note that at least one instance of icu_data::Loader must be kept alive for as long as your code needs ICU data. Since it is difficult to predict when this data is needed, and the ICU liveness rules are a bit confusing, it is probably best to simplify things and keep an icu_data::Loader handy for the lifetime of the program.
{%includecode gerrit_repo="fuchsia/fuchsia" gerrit_path="src/lib/icu_data/rust/icu_data/src/lib.rs" region_tag="loader_example" adjust_indentation="auto" %}
In code, this amounts to instantiating a icu_data::Loader and keeping at least one instance of it alive for the lifetime of the program. The Loader can be cloned at will and copied around: the ICU data will be loaded before the first time it is needed, it will be unloaded when it is not needed, and will be reloaded again if needed again.
{%includecode gerrit_repo="fuchsia/fuchsia" gerrit_path="garnet/examples/intl/wisdom/rust/server/src/main.rs" region_tag="loader_example" adjust_indentation="auto" %}
Perhaps a more robust approach to maintaining a live icu_data::Loader is to pass a possibly cloned instance of a Loader into whatever struct requires ICU data. This will ensure that even in face of code refactors, the code that needs live ICU data always has it available:
{%includecode gerrit_repo="fuchsia/fuchsia" gerrit_path="garnet/examples/intl/wisdom/rust/client/src/wisdom_client_impl.rs" region_tag="loader_example" adjust_indentation="auto" %}
