title: Upgrading Olson tz database natively implemented in PHP
body: <p>I'm working on a site that makes heavy use of time zones which needs to be on the bleeding edge of the absolute latest tz information available (which I already get through the <a href="http://news.gmane.org/gmane.comp.time.tz" rel="nofollow">tz mailing list</a>).  What I don't know is how to get the PHP installations running on my development machine and my web host to use more up-to-date tz data instead of the older data already on them.  <strong>This isn't as simple as just upgrading PHP,</strong> since even the newest versions of PHP won't necessarily have the absolute latest tz data at any given time.</p>
  
  <p>It's been pointed out that the <a href="http://pecl.php.net/package/timezonedb" rel="nofollow">timezonedb package</a> in <code>pecl</code> will get me to the latest official release of the package, but what if I need to go a little further to get to that "bleeding edge" of updates that may not have been officially released yet?  I'm pretty sure that the newer tz data would have to be compiled with <code>zic</code> (distributed in tzcode), and the resulting binaries given to <code>pecl</code>.  I really don't know all that this entails, so insight/links for individual steps would be appreciated.</p>
  
  <p><strong>How can one upgrade this Olson database that is used natively by one's instances of PHP</strong> on <strong>(1)</strong> a XAMPP development machine and/or <strong>(2)</strong> a typical shared hosting service... <em>while jumping through as few hoops and administrative hurdles as possible?</em>  Are there any particulars which a shared hosting environment might make more difficult that one should be aware of?  Is it feasible to have multiple copies of the data present so that changes could easily be undone if one somehow screws them up?</p>
  
  <p>Since changes sometimes aren't officially released in time for them to take effect, I'm looking specifically for a way to be able to make these changes arbitrarily on my own.  I'm also interested in exploring potential tradeoffs over a range of possible solutions from "quick/easy" to "rigorous/best".</p>