Date and Time: clarify localtime settings (TIMEZONE is required for localtime)

[bobertlo]

There have been multiple reports in IRC about localtime settings not working.

I was able to get this working by setting BOTH /etc/localtime and TIMEZONE="US/Central" in rc.conf, while the comments in rc.conf imply that you should set either /etc/localtime (preferred) OR TIMEZONE.

I have not had my coffee yet and @Duncaen understands what is happening better than I do. I just want to make sure the issue is documented.

[Duncaen]

I'm not sure if we should document this or fix the script instead, TIMEZONE in /etc/rc.conf will link /etc/localtime on each boot, changing the timezone will require updating both if you don't want to reboot.
I generally prefer just having one place where the timezone is set and that is by linking /etc/localtime.

The issue is that tzset(3) defaults to utc if the TZ environment variable is set and empty, /etc/runit/core-services/03-console-setup.sh always sets TZ=$TIMEZONE when it runs hwclock if $HARDWARECLOCK is set.

[bobertlo]

This sounds like a better solution to me 👍

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On Thu, Dec 23, 2021 at 8:01 AM Duncan Overbruck ***@***.***> wrote: I'm not sure if we should document this or fix the script instead, TIMEZONE in /etc/rc.conf will link /etc/localtime on each boot, changing the timezone will require updating both if you don't want to reboot. I generally prefer just having one place where the timezone is set and that is by linking /etc/localtime. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#633 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAGWHGI5SSU7HUX6MDVYU43USMTRZANCNFSM5KU2YDJQ> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>