Short: Alternative to SynClock, sets timezone Uploader: Dave Sparks sisyphus demon co uk Type: comm/tcp Architecture: m68k-amigaos Author: Dave.Sparks@sisyphus.demon.co.uk Requires: WB 2.04, AmiTCP Version: 2 (no previous version on aminet) RdateTZ is an alternative to utilities such as SynClock, which set the local clock in accordance with the time obtained by querying the `daytime' port (13) of a remote host. RdateTZ improves on SynClock by: 1 Using the `time' port (37) of the remote host, which returns the GMT value of the remote host's clock. (The `daytime' port (13) normally returns the local time at the remote host's site, but could return GMT and is not required to identify the timezone - see RFC867.) 2 (Optionally) ignoring a remote host whose clock is too far out of step with the local clock (reducing the risk of synchronising with a clock which is running fast or slow). 3 Using datagrams rather than a stream, which allows several remote hosts to be queried simultaneously. The first acceptable (see 2 above) reply is used. 4 Using a file of timezone specifications to set the local clock to a specified timezone, allowing for daylight saving time if appropriate. A subset of the XPG3 standard for the TZ environment variable is used, which allows the offsets and daylight saving time start and end dates of most timezones to be encoded. 5 Setting a value identifying the selected timezone in the TZ environment variable, and recording an RFC822-compliant timezone identifier in the comment associated with the file holding this environment variable. SetTZ provides a subset of the RdateTZ interface, which allows the local clock to be set to a specified timezone without changing the GMT value of the clock. This can be called each time the machine is rebooted, or in the early hours of every morning, to switch to or from daylight saving time on the appropriate dates. No attempt is made to access any external host.