[mythtv-users] timezone problems connecting to remote backend

[Christopher Kerr]

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.

- Chris