[mythtv-users] timezone problems connecting to remote backend

[Greg Oliver]

On Sun, Nov 7, 2010 at 5:50 PM, Christopher Kerr <mythtv at theseekerr.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 8, 2010 at 12:59 AM, Brian Wood <beww at beww.org> wrote:
>> On Sunday, November 07, 2010 06:45:15 am Michael T. Dean wrote:
>>>   On 11/06/2010 04:04 PM, Gavin Hurlbut wrote:
>>> > On Sat, Nov 6, 2010 at 12:35 PM, Greg Oliver wrote:
>>> >> Just link /etc/localtime to /usr/share/zoneinfo/EST5EDT on both
>>> >> machines..  The time will stay the same..  It is kinda strange that
>>> >> mythtv thinks they do not match though - the offset is obviously
>>> >> right..
>>> >
>>> > Not strange at all.  They don't match.  The matching is done by name,
>>> > not by offset.  We may look into making it go by offset at some point,
>>> > but the trick is, make the timezone *names* match.
>>>
>>> Actually, it would need to match by offset /for every point in history
>>> and every point in the future/.  The "current offset" is irrelevant.
>>>
>>> The only way to match by offset for every point in all points in time is
>>> to add code that decompiles (or dumps) your zoneinfo rules and compares
>>> them.  That's not worth the effort (nor the bandwidth).
>>>
>>> Also, Jeff, you're better off using America/New_York than EST5EDT.  On
>>> some systems EST5EDT is /very/ different (and wrong for someone living
>>> in the US Eastern time zone).
>>
>> I had been using EST5EDT on some remote machines in Connecticut, thanks for that pointer.
>>
>> No matter how long you live, or how many people you meet, you will never encounter anyone who can give you a good
>> explanation for why we observe Daylight Savings Time.
>
> WAY OT, but I'll bite:
>
> Because it's easier to change the clocks than observe different working hours.
>
> Right now, I'm at GMT +11. If I were at GMT +10, the sun would have
> risen at 4:46AM. That's all good and well if you're going to get up at
> 5AM and go to work for 8AM, but if your business hours are 9-5, it's
> way too freakin' early.
>
> Similarly, today the sun will set at 7:27PM - that's nice, my hour and
> a half commute home will be in sunlight. If we were at GMT +10, I'd be
> driving in twilight, which is massively more dangerous.
>
> By the time it reaches my birthday in late June, the day will have
> shortened to just shy of 10 hours. I'll be driving home in darkness,
> since the sun will have set at 5PM. But you know what? I'll sure be
> glad to be on GMT+10, cos if it were GMT+11, the sun wouldn't rise
> until 8AM, and getting up in pitch blackness sucks.
>
> There are practical reasons for DST - I still think we should just
> shift working hours flexibly throughout the year, but DST is a GOOD
> compromise.

Not having children going to school in the dark was another reasoning.