Timezone Change/Updated for Linux/Unix Debian/Fedora/Ubuntu/Centos Change Update Time zone

In Newer Linux Distros This Way Is Easiest and works on newer versions like Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, Centos, Debian etc.

#if you are missing  timedatectl this in newer distros like Ubuntu/Mint/Debian and are using a container like Docker then do "apt install systemd"

timedatectl set-timezone America/Vancouver

Replace the America/Vancouver with the correct timezone.

To see the list you can just type "timedatectl set-timezone " and hit tab twice.

 

This way should work on all Linux machines, at least RHEL/Debian (Ubuntu) based distros but most likely all and also should work on many Unix style machines I believe.

Many OS's have tools to update the timezone, but most of them (even if command line) require several bloated packages and even Xorg/KDE based packages etc..

Your time zone info file is actually in /etc/localtime if you open this file in vi/vim/pico you'll see it's gibberish (binary code or another encoding).

Anyway that is the information for your timezone.

Note that all timezone information is stored in the following directory:

ls /usr/share/zoneinfo/

Africa      Atlantic   Chile    Eire     Factory  GMT-0      Iceland      Jamaica    Mexico   NZ        posix       ROC        Universal  zone.tab
America     Australia  CST6CDT  EST      GB       GMT+0      Indian       Japan      Mideast  NZ-CHAT   posixrules  ROK        US         Zulu
Antarctica  Brazil     Cuba     EST5EDT  GB-Eire  Greenwich  Iran         Kwajalein  MST      Pacific   PRC         Singapore  UTC
Arctic      Canada     EET      Etc      GMT      Hongkong   iso3166.tab  Libya      MST7MDT  Poland    PST8PDT     Turkey     WET
Asia        CET        Egypt    Europe   GMT0     HST        Israel       MET        Navajo   Portugal  right       UCT        W-SU


Inside one of those subdirectdories will be the file with your zone information.

For example the Pacific Standard time I use is located in: /usr/share/zoneinfo/Canada/Pacific

There are two ways to change your timezone, you can copy the contents of your timezone file into /etc/localtime or remove your localtime file and symlink to the new timezone.

Best Way To Update Timezone

#If you are missing /usr/share/zoneinfo then install the "tzdata" package.

I think to keep the existing format (no symlink and a physical file), this is the best way:


cat /usr/share/zoneinfo/Canada/Pacific > /etc/localtime

This just overwrites/updates your /etc/localtime file.  For more advanced users you could just delete /etc/localtime and instead symlink to that file (same results but different method):

rm /etc/localtime

ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Canada/Pacific /etc/localtime

Now just type date and you'll see your timezone has been updated.

 


Tags:

timezone, updated, linux, unix, debian, fedora, ubuntu, centos, update, zonethis, rhel, distros, os, bloated, packages, xorg, kde, etc, info, localtime, vi, vim, pico, ll, gibberish, binary, encoding, stored, directory, ls, usr, zoneinfo, chile, eire, factory, gmt, iceland, jamaica, nz, posix, roc, universal, tab, australia, cst, cdt, est, gb, japan, mideast, posixrules, rok, zulu, antarctica, brazil, cuba, edt, greenwich, iran, kwajalein, mst, pacific, prc, singapore, utc, arctic, eet, hongkong, iso, libya, mdt, poland, pst, pdt, asia, cet, egypt, hst, israel, navajo, portugal, uct, su, subdirectdories, located, contents, symlink, existing, format, overwrites, updates, advanced, users, delete, method, rm, ln,

Latest Articles

  • Cisco CME How To Enable ACD hunt groups
  • How to install gns3 on Linux Ubuntu Mint
  • How to convert audio for Asterisk .wav format
  • Using Cisco CME Router with Asterisk as a dial-peer
  • Cisco CME How To Configure SIP Trunk VOIP
  • Virtualbox host Only Network Error Failed to save host network interface parameter - Cannot change gateway IP of host only network
  • Cisco CME and C7200 Router Testing and Learning Environment on Ubuntu 20+ Setup Tutorial Guide
  • Abusive IP ranges blacklist
  • How to Install Any OS on a Physical Drive from Windows Using VMware Workstation (Linux, Windows, BSD)
  • CDN Cloudflare how to set and preserve the real IP of the client without modifying application code on Apache
  • CentOS 7 fix Could not retrieve mirrorlist http://mirrorlist.centos.org/?release=7&arch=x86_64&repo=os&infra=container error was 14: curl#6 -
  • Ubuntu Debian How To Install Recommended Packages Automatically
  • How to set Linux Ubuntu Redhat Debian Command Line http https socks proxy for yum apt
  • How to resize a pdf without losing much quality in Linux Mint Ubuntu Debian Redhat Solution
  • qemu: could not load PC BIOS 'bios-256k.bin' solution
  • Proxmox How To Custom Partition During Install
  • Hyper-V Linux VM Boots to Black Screen, Storage, NIC Not Found Issues
  • Ubuntu Mint How to Fix Missing/Broken /dev and /dev/pts which causes terminal to immediately close exit and not work
  • How high can a Xeon CPU get?
  • bash fix PATH environment variable "command not found" solution