Re: [tzsetup] can't set up local timezone if CMOS is set to UTC

On Mon, Aug 7, 2017 at 2:48 PM, Marius Strobl <marius_at_freebsd.org> wrote:

> On Mon, Aug 07, 2017 at 09:51:15AM +0300, Boris Samorodov wrote:
> > 07.08.2017 09:44, Boris Samorodov ?????:
> > > Hi Marius, All,
> > >
> > > Subj at today's amd64-HEAD. If I use command "sudo tzsetup" and
> > > choose YES (CMOS clock is set to UTC), the program just quits.
> > > Yea, my clocks are at UTC but I want to get time at local timezone. :-)
> > >
> > > I've found a recent commit to tzsetup, is it the cause?
> >
> > Hm. There is a log message at r322097:
> > ---
> > - Make the initial UTC dialog actually work by giving the relevant files
> >    the necessary treatment and then exit when choosing "Yes" there
> instead
> >    of moving on to the time zone menu regardless.
> > ---
> >
> > I must misunderstand something.
> >
> > So my question is: how to set up local time zone if CMOS is set to UTC?
>
> Yeah, I hadn't thought of the case where one would like to set up
> a configuration in which the RTC is using UTC but the timezone is
> not. So I've reverted the corresponding part of r322097 for now as
> I don't see an obvious way to give /etc/wall_cmos_clock appropriate
> treatment in all 3 relevant cases (UTC/UTC, !UTC/UTC and !UTC/!UTC
> regarding RTC/timezone) for all interactive and non-interactive
> ways of using tzsetup(8).
>
> Marius


Thanks for the quick fix, Marius.

FWIW, it the system is not running Windows (dual boot), it has long been
standard BSD practice to set the RTC to UTC and then set the timezone to
local time. I've seen this back to the days of at least BSD4.3 (NOT
FreeBSD) but 20 or more years ago. I have worked at two places with
hundreds of systems, all running this way, including all of "my" systems.
The practice of setting RTC on Unix-only platforms to local time really
started with dual-boot systems, especially Windows. (I first saw this on a
BSD Unix/VMS dual boot system.)
--
Kevin Oberman, Part time kid herder and retired Network Engineer
E-mail: rkoberman_at_gmail.com
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