There are two options in rc.config
One is LOCALTIME, which is either blank or "GMT".
GMT is the nicest and cleanest, it means you will never have to change the time in
CMOS, until your government changes the rule for finding the start and end of daylight
saving.
With this the kernel does exactly as you say. It changes the local
time read by the kernel clock (for example > date) whenever daylight
saving comes into effect - without any intervention. This is where
"timezone" comes in. This should survive as many reboots as you want.
The hardware clock always shows GMT.
But the disadvantage of this is that it is not compatible with DOS, or
many other systems, which expect the hardware clock to show local
time. So the kernel programmers (and the SuSEconfig team) allow the
hardware clock to show the local time, so as to play nicely with DOS.
The kernel then notices when daylight saving starts, and reduces the
offset used at boot for calulating the kernel system time. For
example, going from EST (Eastern USA) to EDT, you go from -0500 to
-0400. If the CMOS clock is changed (by someone) to the new local
time, Linux* will continue to boot and run correctly.
A very neat solution to a thorny problem.
But the catch is, someone has to set the clock to the new local time.
If you boot Windows*, Windows will do it for you. Then you boot Linux
and all is well - only because Linux doesn't do it for you. If Linux
did what you suggest, your clock would end up 2 hours forward, and you
would have very dark mornings!
If you never use any other OS, go to YaST and change LOCALTIME to GMT.
And please read the "System Administrator's Guide" about rebooting and
using the BIOS - I did not just make it up!
Did I explain myself better this time?
dproc
* do I really have to write this trademark stuff? Linux is a
registered trademark of Linux Torvalds. Windows is a registered
trademark or trademark of Microsoft.
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