Re: Documentation update for timezone information in `date'

[Jim Meyering]

Stephen Eglen <address@hidden> wrote:
| % date --v
| date (GNU sh-utils) 2.0
|
| I've just spent a little while working out how to change the time zone
| information on my Redhat 6.1 linux machine.  I read through
| sh-utils.info and couldn't work out how to set the time zone .
| Eventually I found the separate program `tzselect' which informed me
| about (and helped me set) the TZ environment variable.  This variable

You shouldn't have to set the TZ environment variable.
On some systems, you can use a program called tzconfig to set
the local time zone.

| is not mentioned in sh-utils.info (v 2.0).  Since `date' seems to use
| this variable, should this variable be mentioned (presumably in the
| node "Time zone item")?

The latest version of the manual mentions TZ here:

`-u'
`--utc'
`--universal'
     Use Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) by operating as if the `TZ'
     environment variable were set to the string `UTC0'.  Normally,
     `date' operates in the time zone indicated by `TZ', or the system
     default if `TZ' is not set.  Coordinated Universal Time is often
     called "Greenwich Mean Time" (GMT) for historical reasons.

Since setting TZ is not normally necessary, I don't see much reason
to add to that description.

| Also, being picky, the info node mostly uses "time zone", but twice
| "timezone" is used - is this intended?

Thanks.  I've corrected those.