If your server is in a different timezone to your users

In TWiki.cfg:

$ENV{TZ} = "Australia/Melbourne";

This works because SERVERTIME uses localtime(3) and that in turn picks up the TZ variable.

I also noted that Canada/Toronto does not work (silently fails to GMT), but Canada/Eastern produced the result I wanted.

Perhaps a ENV{TZ} entry in the default TWiki.cfg file could make Cairo?

-- MartinCleaver - 19 Jul 2004

Martin, please don't add stuff to a completed feature, it only make it harder to track

nice idea, but

1. how do we docco this? (where can the newbie find a valid TZ list for their OS)
2. are you sure that the timezone gets propogated properly to each for the file operations we do (timestamps on logs, txt and ,v files)
   • I think this goes away when you think about using ENV{TZ} only for DISPLAYTIME, and leave the SERVERTIME alone (eg set it only fro a short time while doing %DISPLAYTIME%s
3. what happens on Windows?
4. how do we validate the timezone setting (like you mention, one wrong step and you're in GMT)

-- SvenDowideit - 21 Jul 2004

Just to confirm: this method works with Dakar. As we have a feature freeze in place it is not likely to become a feature until EdinburghRelease.

For Ed we might as well let TIMEZONE be a preference so that it can be per user.

-- MartinCleaver - 06 Nov 2005

This is a workable solution if the TWiki users and server live in the same timzone. It is probably platform dependent.

A flexible solution is to ShowLocalTimeOfUser, e.g. let the user set the timezone in the user preferences.

-- PeterThoeny - 07 Nov 2005