Re: Server Time Setting

Andrew Dunstan <[email protected]> Thu, 15 Sep 2005 12:59:54 -0400
Newsgroups gmane.comp.db.postgresql.devel.win32
Message-ID <[email protected]>

Lane Van Ingen wrote:

>If I am following this correctly, I may have solved the problem for myself
>in
>the Eastern time zone, but this application gets deployed around the world,
>anywhere at sea that a vessel can go. While I think the vessel sets its time
>based on its home port and keeps it that way through voyage(s), I am won-
>dering if handling of time is still going to give me problems outside of
>time
>zones where DST is being observed.
>  
>
>  
>

If they set the machine to the home port's time and leave it there that 
should be no problem, as long as they select DST adjustment if it's a 
zone that uses DST. In fact I suspect they can set it anyway, regardless 
of TZ, because if the zone doesn't have DST nothing should happen. Test 
it and see.

The trouble with any sort of detection/correction would be that if the 
DST flag is off we have no idea whether the user has left the time on 
the zone's base and so it shows an hour's difference from actual local 
time, or if they have set it to the DST time manually and thus more or 
less lied about the value of UTC. I've seen both happen, many times.

cheers

andrew

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