Re: Can't set the timezone for "date".

[James Youngman]

On 7/22/07, Alan Mackenzie <address@hidden> wrote:
> > Since you were editing the file manually try "Etc/GMT" instead of "GMT"
> > and it should behave as you expect.  However I suggest using "UTC"
> > instead of "GMT", as in "Etc/UTC".
>
> I'll stick with "GMT", I think.  It describes the time zone for what it
> is (the local time in a certain English village), rather than the context
> in which it it used.

No, the correct TZ value for that is Europe/London.  GMT as such
doesn't really exist, and the nearest real thing to GMT is UTC.


> > > Is there some dstardly setting somewhere which I haven't set, and has
> > > decided I really want "Summer Time" (aka daylight saving time)?
>
> > This is really a better question for address@hidden than
> > bug-coreutils.
>
> Hmm.  That's a strange answer.  I'm interpreting it to mean that "summer
> time" is outwith the scope of coreutils.

Yes, precisely.

> I think it would be helpful if the manual said something like this.  Even
> coreutils.info just says (in a fairly buried place) "Normally, `date'
> operates in the time zone indicated by `TZ', or the system default if
> `TZ' is not set", without giving any indication of exactly how $TZ
> indicates.  I found this unhelpful and frustrating.

You could be right, there.   But the coreutils documentation does
include a cross-reference to the libc documentation:-

  Normally, `date' uses the time zone rules indicated by the `TZ'
environment variable, or the system default rules if `TZ' is not set.
*Note Specifying the Time Zone with `TZ': (libc)TZ Variable.

The definition of the syntax and interpretation of $TZ belongs in the
system documentation (in this case libc), not coreutils.

James.


James.