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Linux Systems and the New DST

Posted by kdawson on from the spring-forward-fall-flat dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The recent changes in the Daylight Saving Time will affect virtually all computer systems in the US one week from now. Microsoft has been busy preparing Windows users for 'Y2DST,' and all the major Linux distributions have also issued patches. How can you be sure your Linux systems are ready, and what can you do to get them ready if they're not? This how-to article at Linux-Watch answers both questions in simple language and with easy-to-follow instructions."

2 of 304 comments (clear)

  1. A very simple *nix test by Iphtashu+Fitz · · Score: 5, Informative

    $ date --date="Mar 25 15:00:00 UTC 2006"
    $ date --date="Mar 25 15:00:00 UTC 2007"

    If the output of both shows the same time (eg. 10:00 EST) then you've got a problem. If they show different times (eg. 10:00 EST and 11:00 EDT) then your system is ok.

  2. Beware JVM Problems by tritonman · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you have systems running JVM 1.3 that interact with systems using 1.4 or above, beware, there are issues in how they implemented the fix in 1.3. In Java 1.3, the DST change is applied to ALL years, including prior to 2007, so if you have a remote object on 1.3 give a date to an application running in 1.4 (as a binary object, not just text) then it will cause problems, it will set it to 1 hour off, if you don't use timestamps, the default will be midnight, so one hour off will be the previous day. This has caused a bunch of problems where I work.