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Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!cornell!batcomputer!pyramid!octopus!pete
From: pete@octopus.UUCP (Pete Holzmann)
Newsgroups: news.software.b,comp.mail.uucp
Subject: Timezone trouble in inews, smail...
Message-ID: <175@octopus.UUCP>
Date: 21 Mar 88 18:09:58 GMT
Reply-To: pete@octopus.UUCP (Pete Holzmann)
Organization: Octopus Enterprises, Cupertino CA
Lines: 40
Keywords: Gotta use tzset more

As a non-source-licensed uucp site, we've had to live with the sad fact that
our particular Unix is configured with a default east coast timezone. That's
fine; we can set the TZ variable all over the place. Unfortunately, many
programs don't call tzset() [ctime(3c)] to pull TZ setting into the c library
environment at run time. In addition, I must not have figured out *all* the
places where I should set TZ. I need help with the latter, and I think there
are a few bugs in news and smail caused by the former.

The symptoms:

	- smail was always using eastern time in mail headers until I added
		a tzset() call.
	- both smail logs and news logs use different timezones for logging
		incoming and outgoing mail (outgoing uses local time, incoming
		uses eastern time). Presumably this is because TZ isn't set
		right when inews/smail is called from uucico? Where do I
		set TZ to get this right?

What can you do to help?

	- I don't find any calls to tzset in the news software. Yet sometimes
		inews gets the time zone right in the log file. So clearly
		I don't have the whole picture. Maybe somebody with source can
		grep for a better answer.

	- Beta sites for news/smail/etc who are able, should set up their
		machines so the default timezone is NOT their local time zone.
		They will be able to help find these problems, and propagate
		any required solutions.

	- Where else do I need to set up the correct time zone? I have it in
		/.profile (set TZ...), and in /etc/timezone. (This is V.2
		with some Berkeleyisms added).

Pete
-- 
  OOO   __| ___      Peter Holzmann, Octopus Enterprises
 OOOOOOO___/ _______ USPS: 19611 La Mar Court, Cupertino, CA 95014
  OOOOO \___/        UUCP: {hpda,pyramid}!octopus!pete
___| \_____          Phone: 408/996-7746