Incorrect Time Zone Displaying in Arch
 

Hi guys,

I have a server running ArchLinux; I recently installed openntpd on it. Since I started paying closer attention to the clock, I started noticing other things; specifically when I run the "date" command, it's returned in PST when it should be "EST":

[spice@sandbox ~]$ date
Sat Mar 6 00:17:42 PST 2010

I have set the hwclock to localtime, configured "HARDWARECLOCK" to "localtime" in rc.conf, and chosen two different (but accurate) values for TIMEZONE in rc.conf:

[spice@sandbox ~]$ hwclock
Sat 06 Mar 2010 03:17:38 AM PST -0.922220 seconds
[spice@sandbox ~]$ cat /etc/rc.conf | grep TIMEZONE
TIMEZONE="US/Eastern"
[spice@sandbox ~]$ cat /etc/rc.conf | grep HARDWARE
HARDWARECLOCK="localtime"

However, as you can see, "hwclock" and "date" both say they're showing PST, although hwclock is showing the time in EST. I am not sure whether this was the case before installing openntpd. Is there another place where I should be setting the time zone?

Thanks in advance!

Hi,
try TZ=EST date and check /etc/localtime file, or copy your timezone there (cp /usr/share/zoneinfo/US/Eastern /etc/localtime).

edit:
Why don't you use UTC time?

Thanks for your help; running "TZ=EST date" fixed the output for that line only. However, your second suggestion appears to have resolved the issue on a more permanent basis. (I had read that suggestion during my searches but dismissed it, for what reasons I do not recall.)

As for my preference on time zone, well, I guess it's just my preference. I have no legitimate reason to use (or not use) UTC. Thanks again!