dan@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov (Daniel J. Dick) (02/01/90)
When I inherited a network of suns, I noticed that we had an old version of sendmail.mx running, so I went ahead and installed sendmail.5.61 which everyone recommended to me. Everything seems to work fine so far except that the message headers come out with -0800 instead of PST for the time zone in the date fields. This is probably an easy question, but I am not familiar enough with all the finer details of sendmail to know which format is the "right" one or what to expect or how to change it in the normal way to get PST instead of -0800. -- Daniel J. Dick (dan@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov) Systems Manager NASA Ames Research Center
peter@orfeo.radig.de (Peter Radig) (02/04/90)
dan@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov (Daniel J. Dick) writes: >Everything seems to work fine so far except that the message headers come >out with -0800 instead of PST for the time zone in the date fields. This >is probably an easy question, but I am not familiar enough with all the >finer details of sendmail to know which format is the "right" one or what >to expect or how to change it in the normal way to get PST instead of -0800. The time zones are rewritten by sendmail to their difference times from the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) to have a date that is comparable with other dates from other parts of the world. So a mail reader doesn't need to know about all time zones outside and incoming mail can be sorted by the time it was written. But in the future there will be a little problem: England intends to introduce daylight saving time. Nowadays, they are the only West European country without such things. Peter -- Peter Radig Voice: +49 69 746972 USENET: peter@radig.de or: uunet!unido!radig!peter
enag@slembe.uio.no (Erik Naggum) (02/06/90)
In article <1990Feb4.140030.965@orfeo.radig.de> peter@orfeo.radig.de (Peter Radig) writes: > But in the future there will be a little problem: England intends to introduce > daylight saving time. Nowadays, they are the only West European country without > such things. I think you've gotten things a bit upside down here. GMT is not tied to whatever political decisions some stupid island- government would make concerning daylight saving time. That's why we (the part of the world with no "Greenwhich" complex) call it UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). Another thing is that daylight saving time does not constitute moving that silly island, or Greenwhich in particular, 15 degrees east, and neither does it move the sun, so it really wouldn't matter what kind of daylight saving time those islanders were to elect. Greenwhich is still where it was when someone discovered the need for a 0 meridian, and it's gonna be for a long time. In fact, even if they renamed New Zealand to "Greenwhich" or you consider South-West Connecticut the center of the world, "GMT" would be the same abstract reference point for time measures. Let's all switch to call it "UTC", instead. That way, no petite island gets all the fame. Remember the Incas, now but a memory. Remember the ancient Greek, now but a memory. Remember the British Empire... "We apologize if you have gotten the impression that the British Isles are a bunch of wasteland with an incestuously degenerating population, their very own set of `standards' for everything, and a mail system that invites to long tales of sarcasm. Such was not at all our intention." [private communication] Oh, since this is about time zones. When Bering Standard Time had been around for _years_, some British dude found out it would be nice with "British Standard Time". Yeah, verily. "In 1907, an Englishman, William Willett, campaigned for setting the clock ahead by 80 minutes in four moves of 20 minutes each during the spring and summer months." [Enc Brit 1985, vol 3, p 925] However, "several countries, including Australia, Britain, Germany and the United States, adopted summer daylight saving time during World War I to conserve fuel by reducing the need for artificial light." [ibid] Last time I checked, Britain had DST, so I think you were wrong on that account, too. [Erik]
Andy.Linton@comp.vuw.ac.nz (Andy Linton) (02/07/90)
In article <1990Feb4.140030.965@orfeo.radig.de>, peter@orfeo.radig.de (Peter Radig) writes: > But in the future there will be a little problem: England intends to introduce > daylight saving time. Nowadays, they are the only West European country without > such things. > Surely not, the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) have something called British Summer Time which operates each year. The abbreviation is BST which can cause confusion with Bering Straits Time (:-) The difference between the UK and the rest of Europe is that the dates on which the changes are made have not in the past been decided by a fixed algorithm but by a decision in Parliament each year. I understand that this is to change to bring the UK in line with Eureopean Economic Community legislation and I suspect this is the change that Peter is talking about. -- SENDER = Andy Linton EMAIL = Andy.Linton@comp.vuw.ac.nz PHONE = +64 4 721 000 x8978
roberts@nimrod.wpd.sgi.com (Robert Stephens) (02/14/90)
In article <ENAG.90Feb6050604@slembe.uio.no> enag@slembe.uio.no (Erik Naggum) writes: > ... > > GMT is not tied to whatever political decisions some stupid island- > government would make concerning daylight saving time. That's why we > (the part of the world with no "Greenwhich" complex) call it UTC > (Coordinated Universal Time). > > Another thing is that daylight saving time does not constitute moving > that silly island, or Greenwhich in particular, 15 degrees east, and > neither does it move the sun, so it really wouldn't matter what kind > of daylight saving time those islanders were to elect. Greenwhich is > still where it was when someone discovered the need for a 0 meridian, > and it's gonna be for a long time. In fact, even if they renamed New > Zealand to "Greenwhich" or you consider South-West Connecticut the > center of the world, "GMT" would be the same abstract reference point > for time measures. > > Let's all switch to call it "UTC", instead. That way, no petite > island gets all the fame. Remember the Incas, now but a memory. > Remember the ancient Greek, now but a memory. Remember the British > Empire... ... remember the Vikings? > > "We apologize if you have gotten the impression that the British Isles > are a bunch of wasteland with an incestuously degenerating population, > their very own set of `standards' for everything, and a mail system > that invites to long tales of sarcasm. Such was not at all our > intention." [private communication] I think what we have here is one embittered Viking! I had no idea they were still carrying grudges :-) Onward to European unity! Best of luck in '92 y'all. - Robert Stephens ---------- The opinions expressed herein are entirely my own, and in no way represent the opnions of my employer. ----------