Probably a very minor request, but can PECL's timezoneDB be made into a layer?

[rquadling]

The TimeZoneDB extension is pretty important when working with datetime on a global basis. The extension itself is VERY VERY minimal from a "code" perspective. It is more about "data" that is maintained externally and pulled into the extension when the things change.

It is a drop-in replacement to the version that is statically compiled into the PHP binary (assuming standard building) and is how all date functions, class, methods, etc. work. Add the drop-in, nothing except data changes and is only updated to be more accurate.

The updates to Olson and then the PECL TimeZoneDB are not related to deployments of PHP. From memory, the extension is compatible with ALL versions of PHP (it really is JUST some data ... a LOT of data though!).