All GMT the timezones on /usr/share/zoneinfo/Etc are switched. Where you get, for example, GMT+3 you should get GMT-3 and the same goes for all of them. I just found this out because of DST starting here, in Brazil, tomorrow and I´ve some machines that can't go into DST but need the right timezone, in my case GMT-3. here are some exerpts that I've got using: zdump /usr/share/zoneinfo/Etc/GMT{-,+}{1,2,3,4,5}; date; ls -l /etc/localtime /usr/share/zoneinfo/Etc/GMT-1 Fri Oct 14 15:20:35 2005 GMT-1 /usr/share/zoneinfo/Etc/GMT-2 Fri Oct 14 16:20:35 2005 GMT-2 /usr/share/zoneinfo/Etc/GMT-3 Fri Oct 14 17:20:35 2005 GMT-3 /usr/share/zoneinfo/Etc/GMT-4 Fri Oct 14 18:20:35 2005 GMT-4 /usr/share/zoneinfo/Etc/GMT-5 Fri Oct 14 19:20:35 2005 GMT-5 /usr/share/zoneinfo/Etc/GMT+1 Fri Oct 14 13:20:35 2005 GMT+1 /usr/share/zoneinfo/Etc/GMT+2 Fri Oct 14 12:20:35 2005 GMT+2 /usr/share/zoneinfo/Etc/GMT+3 Fri Oct 14 11:20:35 2005 GMT+3 /usr/share/zoneinfo/Etc/GMT+4 Fri Oct 14 10:20:35 2005 GMT+4 /usr/share/zoneinfo/Etc/GMT+5 Fri Oct 14 09:20:35 2005 GMT+5 Fri Oct 14 11:20:36 BRT 2005 /etc/localtime -> /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Sao_Paulo
Not a bug. From timezone/etcetera: # We use POSIX-style signs in the Zone names and the output abbreviations, # even though this is the opposite of what many people expect. # POSIX has positive signs west of Greenwich, but many people expect # positive signs east of Greenwich. For example, TZ='Etc/GMT+4' uses # the abbreviation "GMT+4" and corresponds to 4 hours behind UTC # (i.e. west of Greenwich) even though many people would expect it to # mean 4 hours ahead of UTC (i.e. east of Greenwich).
you mean posix is flawless? * iso 8601 is the accepted standard * most operating systems use it * http://rfc.net/rfc3339.html internet use it so it might be 5 minutes past twelfe to adjust this ... even if it would mean to adjust posix standard also by moving this out of posix and just referring to iso 8601.
Then bring your problems up to the POSIX working group and not here.