[comp.unix.questions] $TZ, crontab

Dan_Jacobson@ATT.COM (04/22/91)

We often have several users from different timezones logging in to the
same machine.  Too bad $TZ doesn't affect the per-user crontab(1)
command on common UNIXes I've tried.

meissner@osf.org (Michael Meissner) (04/23/91)

In article <DANJ1.91Apr21121154@cbnewse.ATT.COM> Dan_Jacobson@ATT.COM
writes:

| We often have several users from different timezones logging in to the
| same machine.  Too bad $TZ doesn't affect the per-user crontab(1)
| command on common UNIXes I've tried.

There is no right answer for this, since there are things that need to
be done relative to the machine's actual location, such as firing off
the uucp demon at certain times to save on long distance rates.
--
Michael Meissner	email: meissner@osf.org		phone: 617-621-8861
Open Software Foundation, 11 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA, 02142

Considering the flames and intolerance, shouldn't USENET be spelled ABUSENET?

guy@auspex.auspex.com (Guy Harris) (04/24/91)

>We often have several users from different timezones logging in to the
>same machine.  Too bad $TZ doesn't affect the per-user crontab(1)
>command on common UNIXes I've tried.

I.e., the "crontab" command should 1) look at the current setting of TZ
and 2) look at the system-wide default setting of TZ (in those systems
that 1) require TZ to be set, i.e. default to something such as GMT if
it's not set and 2) are sane enough to *have* a system-wide default
setting of TZ) and:

	1) when it outputs the user's "crontab" file, translate the
	   "crontab" entries to from the system-wide default time zone
	   to the time zone specified by TZ;

	2) when it installs the user's "crontab" file, perform the
	   opposite translation?