If you live in the United States, you are probably affected by a law passed by Congress in 2005 which turned the daylight savings system upside-down. Computers are, obviously, affected by this as well. Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols explains how to update your Linux computers to the new DST rules: “To make sure your Linux system knows when DST is, this year and ever on, you need to update your zoneinfo file, or replace it with one that contains the new rules.” In addition, even though Apple has provided a fix for Mac OS X, this fix does not work for Macs running 10.3.9 or lower. Apple does provide a fix. This is where a freeware utility also comes into play.
tested all my linux machines, all up to date and ready to go for this new crazyness…
I had to patch several Win2K boxes at work, and it was a pain. I have Mandriva 2007 installed at home, and I my clock updated automatically. Maybe it was already part of the system.
I just spent the better part of two weeks patching Solaris systems (both OS and firmware) and Java for DST issues:
http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/hubs/dst/
Depending on what you are running it might or might not be an OS issue alone.
“In addition, even though Apple has provided a fix for Mac OS X, this fix does not work for Macs running 10.3.9 or lower.”
Actually, Apple does have a fix for Panther (10.3.x):
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/daylightsavingtimeupdatepant…
It is only for 10.3.9, for anything before that you need to use the freeware that update 10.0.0 through 10.3.9 at http://pss-mac01.unh.edu/howto/DST_fix.html
Patching the windows servers at work was hell! Especially if you are like us and still running some 2000 machines. MS is charging about 4500 USD for the patch, or you have to buy the extended support for 2000. Naturally, no one wants to pay that… Realizing this MS put out some tools to help automate the process but none of it works as it is supposed to. and I’m not even going to get into the hell outlook calendars were to update…
Edited 2007-03-06 17:42
I’ve got three cisco boxes running callmanager(2) and unity(1). They run on Windows Server 2000. I’m just going to be manually jogging the time forward on them. I haven’t been able to get a straight answer and cisco’s docs are a cludge.
Other than that, most of my Windows workstations are updated, my NetWare boxes, my linux servers, and my Server 2003 boxes are all as well. I’ve done my GroupWise updates. The only thing I have to do is run the DST GroupWise repair utility for calenders and fix on the servers that run it.
Nothing is more kuldge than MS’s “fix”. I don’t know who to be more pissed at……congress for enacting this ridiculous law, or Microsoft for knowing about it for 2 years and yet sticking us with a statement like “apply all patches in rapid succession.” What bunk!
I still want it explained to me why a patch for outlook, or exchange’s calendar is needed when both the desktop and server OS is patched. That makes no sense. The time of the appointment is relative to the system clock.
I asked in the #ubuntu+1 this morning, and it is fixed in feisty. They also said that patches were either pushed or ready for dapper and edgy, but I cant say, since I run feisty
I checked Edgy this weekend, and the update had already been applied.
Just use apt-get (Debian based) or yum (Fedora) to get the updates.
If your systems are syncing against a ntp server, wont they be ok? (provided you are syncing against a trustworthy one)
If they are patched yes, if not who knows. In the timezone data for each OS, Java and some applications is information about when DST starts and stops. If you have not patched your systems and March 11 comes around, despite what the NTP server says, your machine(s) might respond with “April 1 is the start of DST” and ingore the NTP update.
The only way to be sure is patch and test.
No, because NTP works on UTC time. Your OS will still make the DST adjustments based on your timezone.
Even if you use NTP, you still need to patch your /usr/share/zoneinfo files (or manually adjust the time on 3/11 and 4/1, then again on 10/28 and 11/4).
For signing into law such a ridiculous change! At work we have had to patch WinNT, 2k, XP, 2k3, Linux, OS/400, AIX, Exchange, Windows Mobile, and Blackberry’s all for some strange experiment. I can’t wait until they decide that it was a pointless test and change it back in a year or two.
But on a positive note, that was a very nice straight-forward How-to.
Well, I’m not from U.S. But I do wonder: Why exactly did they change it? Environmental/energy issues? Biological/health reasons? Something other reason?
Just curious.
I am from the US, and it’s really nothing more than Bush trying to take focus away from a war we shouldn’t be in. He says it will save millions in fuel costs, but it’s costing billions just to put the fix in place.
Lets face it, he’s a bumpkin from Texas, and isn’t really too bright. The only thing I can say is that “I didn’t vote for the idiot”…
Because they were bored and noticed it hadn’t changed much in the last 20 years?
Truthfully, they claim its to reduce energy consumption. Some statistic I read stated it is supposed to reduce the US dependency on 150,000 barrels of oil throughout the year. The worst part is there is a footnote in the bill that gives Congress the option to reverse the change in the next year or two if the gain doesn’t prove worthy.
I wonder how much of that “gain” is now lost with all the IT departments that have to spend time updating DST files on servers.
I posted a similar response, but they pulled it because of a word I used. But essentially, it’s Bush’s way of taking focus off the war. They say it will save the US millions in fuel costs, but it’s costing businesses billions in lost time, etc…
Wrong. Bush doesn’t have the power to make laws, only to pass or veto them.
Ahh a Republican amongst the ranks…
Correct, he had the opportunity to Veto a stupid Bill [it’s not actually a law until it’s passed moron].
P.S. if you are a Republican, then now I know why the Government is in such disarray.
Edited 2007-03-07 13:30
You are correct, I used incorrect terminology, it should have been “bill” not “law”. You are, however, incorrect in your assumption of me being a Republican, although I am likely closer to the right than most people here.
If you read other posts here, some like the change, others hate it, and that’s how it is with most new laws. This one is especially annoying because of all the technology changes that must be made, and the reversion clause poses even more of a problem, since the changes may need to be reverted in the next couple years.
However, this could benefit us if it sticks, and that is what this trial run is for.
If they wanted to reduce energy consumption, all they’d have to do is stop subsidizing oil. They say this would raise the price of gasoline to somewhere between $5 and $15 a gallon. Then people would voluntarily conserve. Google “true cost of gasoline” for more info.
I have to say that I am looking forward to this, although I don’t work in IT so it doesn’t effect my adversely, but in general DST is far more pleasent then non-DST. Having long lighted afternoons is a very nice thing. I hate it when it gets dark well before I would think of going to bed. Personally I think it should be DST all year long. I would far perfer to get up in the dark and have an enjoyable afternoon then miss a second of precious winter sun.
ps. This may be the one bill that Bush has signed that I wholeheartedly agree with.
Edited 2007-03-06 20:09
Not that I checked the language of the document, but I’m sure His-Highness, the Benevolent Dubya didn’t sign this into law just because he likes eating dinner when there’s daylight outside. This was part of some Energy “reform” bill.
The simple fact is that when the conservative (m)asses are in talk mode, and the word ‘Energy’ is thrown about (between the endless onslaught of ‘terrorists’,’family’, ‘morals’, and ‘god and baby jesus’); you can expect it to mean 2 things….’oil’ and ‘payout’.
Ranting aside, I would bet Dubya’s inheritance that there’s more to this bill (law) than pushing up the clock by an hour.
I’ve always found “Daylight Savings” time to be backward. It’s never made sense to me why we want it to be light out at 11pm.
We should be pushing the clocks back in the spring (look, it’s light out in the morning, and dark at 10pm) and forward in the fall (look it’s light out in the morning, and dark around 7pm).
Instead, during the summer, it’s light out until almost midnight, and in the winter it’s dark when we wake and dark when we leave work. Yeah, great way to save daylight there.
The whole point of timezones is so that the position of the sun is almost always the same at the same “time” wherever you go. So why not implement “daylight savings” to make the “daylight” part of the day the same throughout the year? Makes a lot more sense to me.
We are not an agricultural, daylight-dependent society. It’s time to drop these agricultural, daylight-dependent anachronisms.
“We are not an agricultural, daylight-dependent society. It’s time to drop these agricultural, daylight-dependent anachronisms.”
DST was introduced to conserve energy, as many people on this thread have reminded us, and has nothing to do with daylight-dependment or agriculture. The idea is that during summer, it gets light really early (when most people are still sound asleep), but gets dark when most people are still awake (and thus will turn on the lights). When shifting for an hour, you would save the energy needed for light for one hour. You can’t just shift that hour permanently, since during winter, it would get dark even sooner than it does now, so the clock is turned back then. Of course, one could argue whether in a modern time with everyone having computers and other energy consuming home appliences running 24/7, the energy consumption of your average light bulb really matters that much.
It’s still backwards, especially in the winter. It’s dark when you wake up, it’s dark when you are preparing for work, it’s dark when you get to work (for those that work at 8 or 9 in most places), it’s dark when you leave work (for those that work until 5-ish), it’s dark when you get home. Where’s the savings there? The lights are on all day.
If we moved the clocks ahead in the winter, then it would still be dark in the morning, but it would be light out for an hour or so after work. Seems we’d save a lot more power that way.
And if we moved the clocks back in the summer, it would actually be dark at night, like it’s supposed to be. I can’t stand trying to sleep when it’s still daylight out after 11pm.
The first command works to display the settings under OS X and PCBSD. Both of which have already been properly patched.
And it never ceases to amaze me how some people will try and turn anything into some kind of political conspiracy.
Ok, I think it’s time to get back on topic, this is not a political debate board, i could legitimately mod 50% of the posts down in here for being off topic although i have not done so.
Now, back on topic, the bottom line is that like it or not, the new DST has been implimented and you really don’t have much choice but to conform to it. On my apple box and kubuntu boxes this was simply a standard update. I haven’t messed with it on my windows box yet but heh…. it sounds like loads of fun from the posts I have read.
Why don’t they just get rid of DST?
Not sure, but the problem most North Americans are facing now, isn’t new. They’re facing this now. New dates for DST settings, but around the world, many countries doesn’t have a ‘fixed date’ for DST settings… instead, every year they announce this year’s DST dates.
I really don’t like the way OSes really on patches instead of ‘settings’ to understand different DST dates/settings. With internet, a simple feed with this settings would work much better. Some kind of database (update able) to understand previous DST settings would work better than the current “workarounds”…
I just hope engineers do realize that re-designing something may be the better option to fulfill everyones needs in this case…
Why? Just see everyone that had DST problems before… I have not EVER past a year with wrong DST settings… like DST starting a week before or after the correct one. That’s probably not something new for the ones who don’t live in USA…
Funny that Microsoft is not releasing a patch for Win2k systems unless you pay for it. Offtopic: I am happy for the extra daylight after work. I can now do Mountain Bike rides after work without having to do night rides!