From: apm233m@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au Subject: date, clocks, and FAQs Date: 2 Oct 1992 02:12:16 GMT
I guess that the answer to this should be in an FAQ somewhere, but I
can't find it.
I have deduced that the Linux (and all other unixes?) clock keeps time
as GMT (UTC?). ms-dos keeps local time. To preserve some compatibility
it seems to me that during the post boot-up processing phase under
Linux the CMOS clock should be read and the value of the TZ variable
added to it to produce the GMT time for the Linux clock. Is there a
standard or prefered way of doing this?
A related problem is that the 'date' program does not set the CMOS
clock. Since setting the date is a privileged operation, why not use
it to set the CMOS clock? (The 'date' programs knows about the TZ
variable and uses it).