The manual incorrectly states the system timezone path as /usr/share/zoneinfo/localtime. Glibc does not use that file for anything, it uses $(prefix)/etc/localtime. There is an ambiguous reference in the man-page to /etc/localtime, but it does not indicate that it will be used. It states clearly that /usr/share/zoneinfo/localtime is used. A comment in the glibc Makeconfig even says that file should not exist: > ... relative to $(zonedir). It is a good idea > to put this somewhere other than there, so the > zoneinfo directory contains only universal data, > localizing the configuration data elsewhere. Furthermore, the man-page does not indicate the reason this file is being used; which is because it is the configured system timezone. A later patch in this series address the possibility that /etc/localtime could be changed during glibc's compilation. The language changed in this patch points to the FILE section which is where the explanation will be. There is no reason to repeat that information multiple times throughout the man-page. EVIDENCE: glibc/Makeconfig:256: sysconfdir = $(prefix)/etc glibc/Makeconfig:272: localtime-file = $(sysconfdir)/localtime FROM INFO LIBC: C.2 Installing the C Library ============================ To configure the locally used timezone, set the `TZ' environment variable. The script `tzselect' helps you to select the right value. As an example, for Germany, `tzselect' would tell you to use `TZ='Europe/Berlin''. For a system wide installation (the given paths are for an installation with `--prefix=/usr'), link the timezone file which is in `/usr/share/zoneinfo' to the file `/etc/localtime'. For Germany, you might execute `ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Berlin /etc/localtime'. STEPS TO REPRODUCE: cd /usr/share/zoneinfo/ cp Antarctica/South_Pole localtime cp /US/Eastern /etc/localtime cd date Sun Jan 18 12:06:36 EST 2015 TZ=:/usr/share/zoneinfo/localtime date Mon Jan 19 06:06:54 NZDT 2015 rm /etc/localtime date Sun Jan 18 17:08:37 UTC 2015 TZ=:/usr/share/zoneinfo/localtime date Mon Jan 19 06:08:41 NZDT 2015 Signed-off-by: J William Piggott <elseifthen@xxxxxxx> --- The following changes since commit b58839b96d626e67da233d4bf7ba04d5dfcd0e66: syscalls.2: Remove some details for sync_file_range2() (2015-01-18 19:56:05 +0100) are available in the git repository at: git@xxxxxxxxxx:jwpi/man-pages.git tzset for you to fetch changes up to 2b0725c0b6f6788628567ea4d5cfc396898584a0: tzset.3: TZ filespec omitts the colon (2015-01-18 14:40:21 -0500) man3/tzset.3 | 15 ++++++--------- 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-) diff --git a/man3/tzset.3 b/man3/tzset.3 index 3f9b246..09fac15 100644 --- a/man3/tzset.3 +++ b/man3/tzset.3 @@ -75,15 +75,12 @@ the year when daylight saving time applies). .PP If the .B TZ -variable does not appear in the environment, the \fItzname\fP -variable is initialized with the best approximation of local wall clock -time, as specified by the -.BR tzfile (5)-format -file \fIlocaltime\fP -found in the system timezone directory (see below). -(One also often sees -.I /etc/localtime -used here, a symlink to the right file in the system timezone directory.) +variable does not appear in the environment, the system timezone is used. +The system timezone is configured by copying, or linking, a file in the +.BR tzfile "(5) format to" +.IR /etc/localtime . +A timezone database of these files may be located in the system +timezone directory (see the \fBFILES\fP section below). .PP If the .B TZ -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-man" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
