pytz and Etc/GMT-5

Question

I\'m having trouble understanding the conversion between the \"Etc/GMT-5\" timezone and UTC in pytz.

>>> dt = datetime(2009, 9, 9, 10, 0) # Septembe         


        

Answer 1

This bug report explains this behavior. Apparently they know that it is all inverted, but that's because anything else would break compatibility.

Answer 2

This is apparently a POSIX thing. From Wikipedia:

In order to conform with the POSIX style, those zones beginning with "Etc/GMT" have their sign reversed from what most people expect. In this style, zones west of GMT have a positive sign and those east have a negative sign.