python / python/cpython

unexpected behavior of `datetime.astimezone` method

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3.12 3.13 3.14 extension-modules stdlib type-bug
Dominant language
Python
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Description

Bug report

Bug description:

my system time zone is UTC+04:00

>>> import datetime
>>> datetime.datetime(9999, 12, 31).astimezone() # same for .astimezone(datetime.UTC)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<python-input-46>", line 1, in <module>
    datetime.datetime(9999, 12, 31).astimezone()
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
ValueError: year must be in 1..9999, not 10000
>>> datetime.datetime(9999, 12, 31, tzinfo=datetime.UTC).astimezone()
datetime.datetime(9999, 12, 31, 4, 0, tzinfo=datetime.timezone(datetime.timedelta(seconds=14400), '+04'))

same behavior for _pydatetime module, but I found that in version 3.11 the behavior is as next:

>>> datetime.datetime(9999, 12, 31).astimezone()
datetime.datetime(9999, 12, 31, 0, 0, tzinfo=datetime.timezone(datetime.timedelta(seconds=14400), '+04'))

EDIT: same behavior for datetime(1, 1, 1):

>>> datetime.datetime(1, 1, 1).astimezone()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<python-input-23>", line 1, in <module>
    datetime.datetime(1, 1, 1).astimezone()
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
ValueError: year must be in 1..9999, not 0
CPython versions tested on:

CPython main branch, 3.13, 3.12

Operating systems tested on:

Linux

Linked PRs
  • gh-130752

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Research direction

Start with the datetime.astimezone entry point and reproduce the reported year-1 and year-9999 cases on CPython main, comparing them with Python 3.11 behavior. Review linked PR gh-130752 before proceeding; the work is done when the boundary cases no longer raise unexpectedly and the intended behavior is covered by the relevant tests.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
backend
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
20/100

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