Is our "clock" accurate?

RWK · July 27, 2002, 08:39 AM

It is now about 0945, Eastern Time. I just posted to http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/...readid=123011, and the "computer time" applied was 1328. I checked my time preference in "User CP", and it is correct.

Thanks and best regards -- Roy

**Rich Lucibella** · July 27, 2002, 09:20 AM

Damn-
You're right. I'm hesitant to reset it just now. Because the clock shows 4 hours in future, correcting it will only screw up all the thread orders. I'll see if Justin can work something out to automate the change in the middle of the night.
Rich

MLH · July 27, 2002, 10:00 AM

Won't that mess up C. R. Sam since he's up 24/7?

C.R.Sam · July 27, 2002, 10:36 AM

TFL clock been in it's own world for a long time.

Not up 24/7. Take lots of knaps.

Rich, don't mess with it. Your out is that TFL is a world unto itself and is slave to no time zone or system.

Sam

**tyme** · July 27, 2002, 12:34 PM

I get the feeling it got farther off after the apache restart yesterday. Something is definately rotten.

**Rich Lucibella** · July 27, 2002, 12:39 PM

Server clock in linux shows correct.

Rich

C.R.Sam · July 27, 2002, 01:23 PM

25

[email protected] · July 27, 2002, 02:05 PM

Check the control panel, under Options -> Date / Time options. What's the Time Zone Offset set to?

If the Server is on the East coast, and server time is set to EST, then the offset should be GMT -5 hours.

Kevin

**Rich Lucibella** · July 27, 2002, 02:24 PM

Hey Spark-
It's set to GMT -5 (Eastern). That's where it should be, yes?
Rich

**tyme** · July 27, 2002, 03:15 PM

Okay. vbulletin expects time to be EST. Unfortunately, due to DST, eastern time is now EDT, or -4. This breaks things, which is why it's been off an hour (it's off another 1.5 minutes, but that's a system time issue).

Ok, scratch the rest of what I wrote. vbulletin needs to be fixed so it normalizes dates to GMT automatically. Right now it just tries to be smart and ends up being stupid. It ignores that php's date() provides a perfectly good way to get the system time's offset from GMT in seconds, and forces someone to hardcode the offset which breaks things during the summer. That's just silly.

Wow. That was easy. Everything should be fixed.

[email protected] · July 27, 2002, 05:38 PM

We never have this problem on BladeForums. What did you do exactly?

**tyme** · July 27, 2002, 07:29 PM

--- functions.php.orig Sat Jul 27 16:39:30 2002
+++ functions.php Sat Jul 27 16:39:52 2002
@@ -1596,7 +1596,7 @@
function vbdate($format,$timestamp) {
global $bbuserinfo,$timeoffset;

- return date($format,$timestamp+($bbuserinfo['timezoneoffset']-$timeoffset)*3600);
+ return gmdate($format,$timestamp+($bbuserinfo['timezoneoffset'])*3600);

**tyme** · July 27, 2002, 09:10 PM

I temporarily changed timezones -5 through -8 to -4 through -7 so many U.S. residents don't have to change their user settings.

Spark - bladeforums does have the same problem; it's inherent in the way vbulletin does timezones.

Go change your user settings to GMT on BF and look at the times it displays - they'll be off by an hour because vbulletin assumes(!) that if system time is modified by daylight savings, _every_ timezone is.

edit...
The above should be "every timezone should be." Also, if you ever start up apache under a shell that has $TZ set to something weird (like GMT+7), all the times displayed by vbulletin will be off. In that particular case, it would be (7 - system time offset) hours off.

I suspect, though, that just about nobody really pays too much attention to the times displayed other than to estimate relative differences. TFL is its own sovereign, right? What does it need correct timezones for?

**Rich Lucibella** · July 27, 2002, 09:31 PM

Thanks for the quick fix, Tyme.
Rich

July 27, 2002, 08:39 AM	#1
RWK Senior Member Join Date: August 20, 1999 Location: Occupied Virginia Posts: 2,777	Is our "clock" accurate? It is now about 0945, Eastern Time. I just posted to http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/...readid=123011, and the "computer time" applied was 1328. I checked my time preference in "User CP", and it is correct. Thanks and best regards -- Roy __________________ __________________ Μολών λαβέ!

July 27, 2002, 09:20 AM	#2
Rich Lucibella Staff Join Date: October 6, 1998 Location: South Florida Posts: 10,229	Damn- You're right. I'm hesitant to reset it just now. Because the clock shows 4 hours in future, correcting it will only screw up all the thread orders. I'll see if Justin can work something out to automate the change in the middle of the night. Rich __________________ S.W.A.T. Magazine Weapons, Training and Tactics for the Real World Join us at TFL or at AR15.com or on Facebook

July 27, 2002, 10:00 AM	#3
MLH Senior Member Join Date: April 6, 2002 Location: Louisville, Ky. Posts: 165	what? Won't that mess up C. R. Sam since he's up 24/7? __________________ Don't ever doubt that I will shoot. Trial by 12 before carry by 6. "There is no distinctly native American criminal class, save congress." Mark Twain

July 27, 2002, 12:34 PM	#5
tyme Staff Join Date: October 13, 2001 Posts: 3,355	I get the feeling it got farther off after the apache restart yesterday. Something is definately rotten. __________________ “The egg hatched...” “...the egg hatched... and a hundred baby spiders came out...” (blade runner) “Who are you?” “A friend. I'm here to prevent you from making a mistake.” “You have no idea what I'm doing here, friend.” “In specific terms, no, but I swore an oath to protect the world...” (continuum) “It's a goal you won't understand until later. Your job is to make sure he doesn't achieve the goal.” (bsg)

July 27, 2002, 12:39 PM	#6
Rich Lucibella Staff Join Date: October 6, 1998 Location: South Florida Posts: 10,229	Server clock in linux shows correct. Rich __________________ S.W.A.T. Magazine Weapons, Training and Tactics for the Real World Join us at TFL or at AR15.com or on Facebook

July 27, 2002, 10:36 AM	#4
C.R.Sam Senior Member Join Date: October 29, 1999 Location: Dewey, AZ Posts: 12,858	TFL clock been in it's own world for a long time. Not up 24/7. Take lots of knaps. Rich, don't mess with it. Your out is that TFL is a world unto itself and is slave to no time zone or system. Sam

July 27, 2002, 01:23 PM	#7
C.R.Sam Senior Member Join Date: October 29, 1999 Location: Dewey, AZ Posts: 12,858	25

July 27, 2002, 02:05 PM	#8
[email protected] Wise Guy Join Date: October 10, 1998 Posts: 665	Check the control panel, under Options -> Date / Time options. What's the Time Zone Offset set to? If the Server is on the East coast, and server time is set to EST, then the offset should be GMT -5 hours. Kevin __________________ Kevin Jon Schlossberg Owner, BladeForums.com www.bladeforums.com

July 27, 2002, 02:24 PM	#9
Rich Lucibella Staff Join Date: October 6, 1998 Location: South Florida Posts: 10,229	Hey Spark- It's set to GMT -5 (Eastern). That's where it should be, yes? Rich __________________ S.W.A.T. Magazine Weapons, Training and Tactics for the Real World Join us at TFL or at AR15.com or on Facebook

July 27, 2002, 03:15 PM	#10
tyme Staff Join Date: October 13, 2001 Posts: 3,355	Okay. vbulletin expects time to be EST. Unfortunately, due to DST, eastern time is now EDT, or -4. This breaks things, which is why it's been off an hour (it's off another 1.5 minutes, but that's a system time issue). Ok, scratch the rest of what I wrote. vbulletin needs to be fixed so it normalizes dates to GMT automatically. Right now it just tries to be smart and ends up being stupid. It ignores that php's date() provides a perfectly good way to get the system time's offset from GMT in seconds, and forces someone to hardcode the offset which breaks things during the summer. That's just silly. Wow. That was easy. Everything should be fixed. __________________ “The egg hatched...” “...the egg hatched... and a hundred baby spiders came out...” (blade runner) “Who are you?” “A friend. I'm here to prevent you from making a mistake.” “You have no idea what I'm doing here, friend.” “In specific terms, no, but I swore an oath to protect the world...” (continuum) “It's a goal you won't understand until later. Your job is to make sure he doesn't achieve the goal.” (bsg) Last edited by tyme; July 27, 2002 at 03:40 PM.

July 27, 2002, 05:38 PM	#11
[email protected] Wise Guy Join Date: October 10, 1998 Posts: 665	We never have this problem on BladeForums. What did you do exactly? __________________ Kevin Jon Schlossberg Owner, BladeForums.com www.bladeforums.com

July 27, 2002, 07:29 PM	#12
tyme Staff Join Date: October 13, 2001 Posts: 3,355	--- functions.php.orig Sat Jul 27 16:39:30 2002 +++ functions.php Sat Jul 27 16:39:52 2002 @@ -1596,7 +1596,7 @@ function vbdate($format,$timestamp) { global $bbuserinfo,$timeoffset; - return date($format,$timestamp+($bbuserinfo['timezoneoffset']-$timeoffset)3600); + return gmdate($format,$timestamp+($bbuserinfo['timezoneoffset'])3600); __________________ “The egg hatched...” “...the egg hatched... and a hundred baby spiders came out...” (blade runner) “Who are you?” “A friend. I'm here to prevent you from making a mistake.” “You have no idea what I'm doing here, friend.” “In specific terms, no, but I swore an oath to protect the world...” (continuum) “It's a goal you won't understand until later. Your job is to make sure he doesn't achieve the goal.” (bsg)

July 27, 2002, 09:10 PM	#13
tyme Staff Join Date: October 13, 2001 Posts: 3,355	I temporarily changed timezones -5 through -8 to -4 through -7 so many U.S. residents don't have to change their user settings. Spark - bladeforums does have the same problem; it's inherent in the way vbulletin does timezones. Go change your user settings to GMT on BF and look at the times it displays - they'll be off by an hour because vbulletin assumes(!) that if system time is modified by daylight savings, _every_ timezone is. edit... The above should be "every timezone should be." Also, if you ever start up apache under a shell that has $TZ set to something weird (like GMT+7), all the times displayed by vbulletin will be off. In that particular case, it would be (7 - system time offset) hours off. I suspect, though, that just about nobody really pays too much attention to the times displayed other than to estimate relative differences. TFL is its own sovereign, right? What does it need correct timezones for? __________________ “The egg hatched...” “...the egg hatched... and a hundred baby spiders came out...” (blade runner) “Who are you?” “A friend. I'm here to prevent you from making a mistake.” “You have no idea what I'm doing here, friend.” “In specific terms, no, but I swore an oath to protect the world...” (continuum) “It's a goal you won't understand until later. Your job is to make sure he doesn't achieve the goal.” (bsg) Last edited by tyme; July 27, 2002 at 10:20 PM.

July 27, 2002, 09:31 PM	#14
Rich Lucibella Staff Join Date: October 6, 1998 Location: South Florida Posts: 10,229	Thanks for the quick fix, Tyme. Rich __________________ S.W.A.T. Magazine Weapons, Training and Tactics for the Real World Join us at TFL or at AR15.com or on Facebook