Hi, Bob! On Sat, Jul 21, 2007 at 12:06:11PM -0600, Bob Proulx wrote: > Alan Mackenzie wrote: > > I'm having problems with my date. My system is basically Debian > > Sarge GNU/Linux. uname -a gives this:
> I have an obligatory response that says Etch is now current stable. :-) > This won't affect your issue though. I've had one go at installing it. I've tried one or two other distributions, too. I'll upgrade to the right one when I've got a few spare days. > > What I would like to see printed is something like this: > > Sat Jul 21 14:37:34 GMT 2007 > > , though I'd be happy enough with "UTC" instead of "GMT". > Set it to UTC and you will see UTC. > > I'm not aware of exactly what it is on my system that decides to > > display dates with "BST". The variable TZ was null. I have tried > > setting TZ to "GMT", "UTC", "0000" and even "asdf", none of which > > makes the slightest difference. I have tried "set | grep BST". > GNU libc ships with a script to help set the /etc/timezone file to the > desired timezone. When glibc is installed or updated the postinst > script calls tzconfig and says: "Run 'tzconfig' if you wish to change > it." Thanks! That has worked perfectly. Problem, though: how should I know that it exists? (That's not a rhetorical question by the way.) > sudo tzconfig > > Earlier in the day I had changed my /etc/timezone file from > > "Europe/London" to "GMT" and rebooted. > Why did you reboot? On the off chance that the file was read once at boot-time, rather than each time "date" is called. Nothing else was working, I couldn't find pertinent documentation, I was feeling fed up and useless, so why not try rebooting? ;-) > > This made not a blind bit of difference. > 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. I also like the terms "Prague time" and "St. Petersburg time", even if I'm the only person in the world who uses them. ;-) > But actually probably better to run 'tzconfig' to do this for you > since that will protect against typographic errors. Done that, it did, and it has worked. Thanks! > > 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 [EMAIL PROTECTED] than > bug-coreutils. Hmm. That's a strange answer. I'm interpreting it to mean that "summer time" is outwith the scope of coreutils. > > I can't find anything at all int the info file for date, > > sh-utils.info, "This manual minimally documents version 1.16 of the > > GNU shell utilities" about setting timezones. I think this is a bug > > of omission in the manual. > That manual should not exist on a Sarge system. That is the Woody > version of the manual. The new manual is in the coreutils.info file. Ah, OK, my mistake! That sh-utils is a ghost from an earlier installation. Sorry. I do have coreutils.info. > But this has nothing to do with coreutils and everything to do with > glibc. 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. > > Also, my CMOS clock seems to have gained about half an hour over the > > last year. Looking at various scripts in rc[0123456S].d, it seems that > > Debian Linux overwrites the CMOS clock every time it shuts down. Damned > > arrogance that, if you ask me! I'm confused as to why this is done, and > > feeling pretty fed up about it. As a bonus, if anybody can explain to > > me what's going on here, I'd be very grateful. > That is normal. But please ask that question again on > [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list instead of here. OK, will do. > > Also, is there _any_ pertinent documentation of all this stuff anywhere? > > Any info file or man page that documents TZ, for example? > man tzconfig :-) > Bob Thanks again! My dates are now correct. -- Alan Mackenzie (Ittersbach, Germany). _______________________________________________ Bug-coreutils mailing list Bug-coreutils@gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-coreutils
