Add the timezone in clock meter

[eworm-de]

I connect to servers with non-local timezones every now and then... Let's add the timezone in clock meter to minimize confusion there.

[fasterit]

I would at least make this optional (config option) as (... how do I say that politely ...) it is not a sign of following best practices to run distributed servers with clocks in local time zones. /DLange

[Explorer09]

I would at least make this optional (config option) as (... how do I say that politely ...) it is not a sign of following best practices to run distributed servers with clocks in local time zones. /DLange

Nah. It's about the display of the system time in UTC or in local time. Note the colck meter uses localtime_r already and not gmtime_r. But without the UTC keyword it can cause the user confusion.

The switch between local time and UTC can be done as a separate feature.

[eworm-de]

Whether or not the timezone being local on a server makes sense... Depends.

But that's the point: My workstation has local timezone CEST, and the server has UTC. Looking at the clock from server's htop shocked me for a little moment. 🙃

Will have a look to make it configurable.

[fasterit]

I am confused how sysadmins would be confused about the TZ they set on their own user / their root user. And why in ClockMeter.c but not in DateTimeMeter.c ?

[fasterit]

But that's the point: My workstation has local timezone CEST, and the server has UTC. Looking at the clock from server's htop shocked me for a little moment. 🙃

Bring your TZ to the server. TZ="Europe/Berlin" htop works. (so does fixing your ssh env :smile:)

[Explorer09]

grep -r localtime
ClockMeter.c:   const struct tm* lt = localtime_r(&host->realtime.tv_sec, &result);
DateMeter.c:   const struct tm* lt = localtime_r(&host->realtime.tv_sec, &result);
DateTimeMeter.c:   const struct tm* lt = localtime_r(&host->realtime.tv_sec, &result);
Process.c:   (void) localtime_r(&this->starttime_ctime, &date);

That's all the code that would be affected by time zones. And yes, if you show the timezone offset in ClockMeter, it should also show in DateTimeMeter.

[eworm-de]

I am confused how sysadmins would be confused about the TZ they set on their own user / their root user.

Well, my confusion was not about the settings of the server, but more about what terminal window I was looking at. 😜

And why in ClockMeter.c but not in DateTimeMeter.c ?

Because that's what I use. 😁 Added it to date/time meter in another commit, but still without any configuration option.

Bring your TZ to the server. TZ="Europe/Berlin" htop works. (so does fixing your ssh env 😄)

I would have to add that in user configuration of any server... Using environment variables via ssh is a nice idea, but does not work out: This requires the server to accept these variables (see AcceptEnv and PermitUserEnvironment in sshd_config man page), and the default is to not do so.

[BenBE]

TBH, all except TZ=UTC is just overrated …

[fasterit]

We have discussed this PR on IRC and nobody likes it™.

You could make it configurable, a meter mode or a separate date-time-meter-with-TZ but we will not force the change on the existing users as our scientific poll (N=2) found this proposed change to be ugly.

[eworm-de]

[...] as our scientific poll (N=2) found this proposed change to be ugly.

🤣

Never mind, fine with me. Adding just another configuration option is not worth it I think.