diff -up python-dateutil-1.5/dateutil/zoneinfo/__init__.py\~ python-dateutil-1.5/dateutil/zoneinfo/__init__.py

--- python-dateutil-1.5/dateutil/zoneinfo/__init__.py~	2005-12-22 19:13:50.000000000 +0100

+++ python-dateutil-1.5/dateutil/zoneinfo/__init__.py	2011-08-17 15:24:29.019214748 +0200

@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ __all__ = ["setcachesize", "gettz", "reb

 CACHE = []

 CACHESIZE = 10

+USE_SYSTEM_ZONEINFO = True # XXX configure at build time

 class tzfile(tzfile):

     def __reduce__(self):

@@ -29,7 +30,8 @@ def getzoneinfofile():

             return os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), entry)

     return None

-ZONEINFOFILE = getzoneinfofile()

+ZONEINFOFILE = getzoneinfofile() if USE_SYSTEM_ZONEINFO else None

+ZONEINFODIR = (os.getenv("TZDIR") or "/usr/share/zoneinfo").rstrip(os.sep)

 del getzoneinfofile

@@ -39,22 +40,37 @@ def setcachesize(size):

     del CACHE[size:]

 def gettz(name):

-    tzinfo = None

-    if ZONEINFOFILE:

-        for cachedname, tzinfo in CACHE:

-            if cachedname == name:

-                break

+    for cachedname, tzinfo in CACHE:

+        if cachedname == name:

+            return tzinfo

+

+    name_parts = name.lstrip('/').split('/')

+    for part in name_parts:

+        if part == os.path.pardir or os.path.sep in part:

+            raise ValueError('Bad path segment: %r' % part)

+    filename = os.path.join(ZONEINFODIR, *name_parts)

+    try:

+        zonefile = open(filename, "rb")

+    except:

+        tzinfo = None

+    else:

+        tzinfo = tzfile(zonefile)

+        zonefile.close()

+

+    if tzinfo is None and ZONEINFOFILE:

+        tf = TarFile.open(ZONEINFOFILE)

+        try:

+            zonefile = tf.extractfile(name)

+        except KeyError:

+            tzinfo = None

         else:

-            tf = TarFile.open(ZONEINFOFILE)

-            try:

-                zonefile = tf.extractfile(name)

-            except KeyError:

-                tzinfo = None

-            else:

-                tzinfo = tzfile(zonefile)

-            tf.close()

-            CACHE.insert(0, (name, tzinfo))

-            del CACHE[CACHESIZE:]

+            tzinfo = tzfile(zonefile)

+        tf.close()

+

+    if tzinfo is not None:

+        CACHE.insert(0, (name, tzinfo))

+        del CACHE[CACHESIZE:]

+

     return tzinfo

 def rebuild(filename, tag=None, format="gz"):

diff -up python-dateutil-1.5/setup.py\~ python-dateutil-1.5/setup.py

--- python-dateutil-1.5/setup.py~	2010-01-11 10:43:22.000000000 +0100

+++ python-dateutil-1.5/setup.py	2011-08-17 15:38:13.206304651 +0200

@@ -15,6 +15,16 @@ TOPDIR = os.path.dirname(__file__) or ".

 VERSION = re.search('__version__ = "([^"]+)"',

                     open(TOPDIR + "/dateutil/__init__.py").read()).group(1)

+# XXX We would like to bind this to something like

+# --system-zoneinfo=/path/to/zoneinfo.  Any way of doing this short of

+# overriding build and install commands?

+if False:

+    extra_options = dict(

+        package_data={"": ["*.tar.gz"]},

+        )

+else:

+    extra_options = {}

+

 setup(name="python-dateutil",

       version = VERSION,

@@ -29,7 +39,7 @@ The dateutil module provides powerful ex

 datetime module, available in Python 2.3+.

 """,

       packages = ["dateutil", "dateutil.zoneinfo"],

-      package_data={"": ["*.tar.gz"]},

       include_package_data=True,

       zip_safe=False,

+      **extra_options

       )