On Mon, Sep 23, 2002, Gilad Ben-Yossef wrote about "Re: Timezone setup":
> The answer is POSIX compliance. POSIX has this bizzare notion of how to
> handle time zones. it involves the TZ variable and the timezone file.
>
> Glibc must support it to be POSIX compliant but since its a really brain
> dead method they invented the /etc/localtime / /use/share/zoneinfo zic
> files we all *really* use.
>...
The POSIX mechanism whereby you could choose your own timezone in a TZ
variable isn't as silly and useless as it is portrayed.
If you look a few years back, before Linux became the most widespread Unix
and when Unix we typically run on expensive time-sharing machines, not
personal computers, it should be obvious to you that not all users
necessarily use the same timezone and that letting each user control his or
her timezone can be useful. For example, I might be sitting in Berkeley
(Pacific Time) and logging in to a Unix machine in Bell Labs (Eastern Time).
I might be sitting in Bell Labs (Eastern) and logging in to the Technion
(Israel). In fact I did both of these things. In such cases, it might be
more convenient for you to set your TZ variable to your local time zone,
rather then that of the machine's actual physical location, you don't
*have* to do that, but you can.
Note that the TZ variable doesn't necessarily need to be in that old format
that specifies the exact time difference. It is better if it points to
to a compiled file that lists all the information about some country's
time zone at all times. For example, try
$ TZ=Hongkong date
$ TZ=Israel date
$ TZ=Portugal date
(I just tried it on both Redhat 7.3 and Solaris 8, and it works. The timezone
files come from /usr/share/lib/zoneinfo/Portugal in solaris, or
/usr/share/zoneinfo/Portugal in Redhat 7.3).
In my opinion, /etc/localtime is just Linux's way of setting a default TZ,
instead of setting the TZ variable in /etc/profile or something. Personally,
I don't see the big "gluck" in that... It only adds to the confusion when
you don't understand where your (wrong) default is coming from...
--
Nadav Har'El | Monday, Sep 23 2002, 18 Tishri 5763
[EMAIL PROTECTED] |-----------------------------------------
Phone: +972-53-245868, ICQ 13349191 |A man is incomplete until he is married.
http://nadav.harel.org.il |After that, he is finished.
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