we have variety of Redhat Linux versions. E.g Redhat 8.0 and Redhat 9.0 as well. I didnt get any DST information for these systems. So guys if you have any , please let me know.
Do i require to install any tzdata on such systems or need to upgrade glibc version ??
Do reply.

I don't know what you mean by "I didn't get any DST information for these systems." If there is no DST information for those systems, not even old outdated information, then those systems probably have problems that are too severe to be solved by a walk down linuxquestions lane.

But if the problem is getting updated information to reflect the new rules, do this:

... and then read the README file, and all will be revealed.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the reply. What I meant was , we did not find any RPM packages for RedHat Linux 8.0 & 9.0 versions. So we do not know how to make these systems ready for DayLight Savings Time Change that is going to take place from 11 Mar 2007.
Is there any reliable ways to achieve this ??
Or just we need to install the packages you have asked to download.i.e.
1. tzcode2007b.tar
2. tzdata2007b.tar

Thanx in advance.

You can try reading the README in those packages.

Also, is there a reason why you are using RH8 and RH9. Both of these are very old versions of Linux - support for RH9 was discontinued in 2004. If possible, upgrade to a more recent version. The Fedora project is the successor to the "community" Redhat distros, and the latest release is Core 6.

You could also try getting the tzdata RPM from Fedora, and see if that works, but I doubt that it will.

You may have to make the changes manually - there is plenty of threads on this site dealing with how to do this. Hint: you will need to use zdump.

But seriously, I think your best bet is to upgrade to Fedora Core 6.
--Ian

You don't need to use zdump. People suggest that you use that to determine whether your rules are up to date. But all you have to do is this:

If the answer you get is expressed in terms of daylight time, no changes are needed. You're good to go.

If the answer you get is expressed in terms of standard time, you need to upgrade the time zone rules. Then the README in what you downloaded gives you everything you need to know.

IBall speaks wisely about upgrading your system to Fedora Core 6, though.

Not that I have any standing to speak about that. I'm still running Slackware (cough)9.1(cough).

Guys , I'm very much confused with DST changes for RH Version 8.0 & 9.0 .
As the time is running out .... Need a defined steps to perform the same.
Tahnx in advance

Unless there is a very good reason that you are still running Redhat 8 and 9, upgrade to a more recent version. The Fedora project replaces the Redhat Community distros, and the current release is v6.

If you must continue to run such an old and unsupported distro, then do a search on howto do this. There are plenty of threads on these forums about this.

Alternatively, you can just adjust the time forward by one hour on the specified day. If your systems are using NTP, then you may need to change the timezone to the next one to the east of you.

But seriously - UPGRADE.

--Ian

Alternatively, install the tzdata stuff. The tzcode (associated programs) should not need to be changed.

Once you update tzdata package, Verify using zdump and you should be seeing similar output except for your timezone ( In my case, I'm in PST )

zdump -v /etc/localtime |grep 2007
/etc/localtime Sun Mar 11 09:59:59 2007 UTC = Sun Mar 11 01:59:59 2007 PST isdst=0 gmtoff=-28800
/etc/localtime Sun Mar 11 10:00:00 2007 UTC = Sun Mar 11 03:00:00 2007 PDT isdst=1 gmtoff=-25200
/etc/localtime Sun Nov 4 08:59:59 2007 UTC = Sun Nov 4 01:59:59 2007 PDT isdst=1 gmtoff=-25200
/etc/localtime Sun Nov 4 09:00:00 2007 UTC = Sun Nov 4 01:00:00 2007 PST isdst=0 gmtoff=-28800

A more fun way to check is simply to use the date command:

If it comes out as daylight, you have the new rules; otherwise, you don't.

Sachin,

I have seen the people are giving right information in bits and pieces, so I wrote this up for you. This works for any Linux system and this is a complete process :

HERE IS A SIMPLE AND COMPLETE PROCESS TO UPDATE ANY LINUX SERVER FOR DST:

Using ZIC to compile / extracting Zone files: (Elegant / Simple process) – works well for any older Linux 7.1 /7.2 versions etc.

Download the most recent version of the time zone text files from the public domain time zone database < ftp://elsie.nci.nih.gov/pub/>, and compile the files yourself with zic.

Download the file named tzdata2007c.tar.gz

This is just an example of just making the America/Los_Angeles zone DST compiled and replace in your presently running linux system, without a break in service. Obviously you could do this for any timezone or all of them.

Download above tar file / unpack it / get your hands on the directory called

“tzdata2007c”

Logon as root
mkdir /root/DST2007 [ this directory is just a working location for my old timezone files backup. You can name anything and location can be anything ]
CD
CD DST2007
COPY / backup present timezone data files: cp –r /usr/share/zoneinfo (and later change the name as oldtimezonebackupfiles)
Unpack the tar file mentioned above and get the tzdata2007c directory. Keep one copy in your work location /root/DST2007 as backup and copy one to /tmp directory.

cd /tmp/tzdata2007c
zic –d /tmp/zoneinfo northamerica

this will compile the time zone files into a directory /tmp/zoneinfo.

Check if dates look correct by doing zdump –v /tmp/zoneinfo/America/Los_Angeles |grep 2007 . [ Note :you see March 11th and Nov 4th ] .

cd /usr/share
rm –rf zoneinfo
mv /tmp/zoneinfo .

cd /etc
ln –sf /usr/shar/zoneinfo/America/Los_Angeles /etc/localtime
check again the correct dates by zdump –v /etc/localtime |grep 2007

***********************************************************

pratul

Two notes on your great write-up...
0. Of course, THANKS for your help.

1. There is a letter missing from this line,
I'm sure it was a typo.

ln –sf /usr/shar/zoneinfo/America/Los_Angeles /etc/localtime
should read
ln –sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Los_Angeles /etc/localtime


2. An answer for all the people who asked WHY anyone would
still be on an old OS like RH (so-old-I-forgot-which-version):
LIFE.

At work, I am responsible for 10 Sun boxes and 6
AIX LPARs, and they were done a long time ago,
and tested with my perl script and/or my C program.

But at home, my mail is on an old RH box,
and it will get upgraded when it's replacement is ready,
hopefully soon, but not when Congress or Bill Gates tells me to.

This disposable economy is a bit much

I've built a redhat 8.0 RPM with updated tzdata and tzcode from the fedora 6 tzdata RPM. I'm posting the SRC RPM only.

http://inoc.com/redhat/glibc-2.3.2-4.80.8tz.src.rpm

You can build a i386 or i686 variant yourself with the commands:

rpmbuild --rebuild glibc-2.3.2-4.80.8tz.src.rpm

- or -

rpmbuild --rebuild glibc-2.3.2-4.80.8tz.src.rpm --target=i686

YMMV

The zoneinfo files are quite portable. I've even copied the directory of Solaris zoneinfo files to some old Debian and Redhat hosts, and it looks like it will work. I'm sure that violates all kinds of laws of nature, feh.

You need to remember to update /etc/localtime also. On some distros but not Redhat it's a softlink to whatever file in /usr/share/zoneinfo you want to set the timezone to. Redhat copies the zoneinfo file to localtime (d'oh!) so you need to update it manually too.

-w

If it helps I had to update 30 servers and put together a script:

txlinux.com/tzupdate.sh