HPUX 11.31 TimeZone Setting

[ConnieK]

I have an rx7640 sitting in the US in the EST timezone. Customer wants the server to report in GMT.

I used the set_parms command to reset the TIMEZONE. - now GMT0BST.

Customer says it is not right - should be GMT as opposed to BST. I state it is right.

Isn't GMT0BST the same thing as GMT?

If not, what do I need to put into the /etc/default/TIMEZONE?

Thanks.

Connie

[Pete Randall · Accepted solution]

According to tztab (/usr/lib/tztab), yes, they are one and the same. If your customer doesn't like it, you could always create your own tztab entry for GMT without any reference to BST.


Pete

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Connie:

GMT0BST and UTC are different. You need to use 'UTC' as your default. Consider:

# TZ=GMT0BST date
Thu Sep 10 12:55:02 BST 2009
# TZ=UTC date
Thu Sep 10 11:55:05 UTC 2009

...as you can see, they are not the same :-)

Regards!

...JRF...

[ConnieK]

Well, very interesting viewpoints from both of you!

Pete - I guess I could make my own TZ setting to report "GMT" - which the customer obviously wants to see, but I am unsure how to do that.

James - I could use the "UTC" setting, but the customer would probably still not understand and want to see "GMT" in the "date" response.

So, can I change the display variable to show GMT only? And... how to?

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi (again) Connie:

For your customer's edification:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coordinated_Universal_Time

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMT

Regards!

...JRF...

[ConnieK]

WOOHOO!! I will definitely change the setting to "UTC" and forward the link to the customer!

THANK YOU both!!

[Dennis Handly]

>Customer wants the server to report in GMT.

The user can just "export TZ=UTC" and you don't have to change things. Of course the entries in syslog will still be EST/EDT.

>Isn't GMT0BST the same thing as GMT?

UTC never changes during the year. Since GMT0BST is in tztab(4), it does.

>can I change the display variable to show GMT only?

Simply use: TZ=GMT0