Apache logs continue to change back to UTC [SOLVED]

[hanji866]

I'm new to Ubuntu, and this is an odd one for me.

I have my timezone set with

timedatectl set-timezone America/Denver

I also run this:

dpkg-reconfigure tzdata

When I restart apache2 it will show logs as MTC, but within a minute or so, will revert back to UTC

Current output of timedatectl

Local time: Tue 2023-02-21 15:14:05 MST
Universal time: Tue 2023-02-21 22:14:05 UTC
RTC time: Tue 2023-02-21 22:14:05
Time zone: America/Denver (MST, -0700)
System clock synchronized: yes
NTP service: active
RTC in local TZ: no


xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx - - [21/Feb/2023:15:14:17 -0700]....
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx - - [21/Feb/2023:22:15:20 +0000]....

Maybe it's about the RTC in local TZ should be yes?

Thanks!
hanji

[#&thj^%]

Without getting into a long reasoning, The solution, in short, is to normalize your timezone settings. Ideally, use something like UTC for both server and applications.
EDIT: Mine:

timedatectl
Local time: Tue 2023-02-21 15:19:12 MST
Universal time: Tue 2023-02-21 22:19:12 UTC
RTC time: Tue 2023-02-21 22:19:12
Time zone: America/Denver (MST, -0700)
System clock synchronized: yes
NTP service: active
RTC in local TZ: no

[hanji866]

Thanks for reply. I guess, the point, is I don't want UTC, and trying to get everything on the system to be MTC

[hanji866]

Without getting into a long reasoning, The solution, in short, is to normalize your timezone settings. Ideally, use something like UTC for both server and applications.
EDIT: Mine:

timedatectl
Local time: Tue 2023-02-21 15:19:12 MST
Universal time: Tue 2023-02-21 22:19:12 UTC
RTC time: Tue 2023-02-21 22:19:12
Time zone: America/Denver (MST, -0700)
System clock synchronized: yes
NTP service: active
RTC in local TZ: no




That is basically what my output is. So, do I need to make a change on apache's side?

[#&thj^%]

Also, you might check for SetEnv lines in the apache config.

Personally I think keeping logs in GMT is a good idea...

[hanji866]

Also, you might check for SetEnv lines in the apache config.

Personally I think keeping logs in GMT is a good idea...

I personally like to reference the time quickly - I don't think in UTC. Also, just to clarify, /var/log/messages are showing the correct time. My php.ini also is set to 'America/Denver'. I did a grep in /etc/apache for anything TZ/Timezone/UTC, etc.

Thanks for the help.
hanji

[#&thj^%]

Remember that the TZ variable is global to the process. If a *mod_perl*
or PHP script sets that variable, it will I think affect logs written
out by Apache

[TheFu]

Thanks for reply. I guess, the point, is I don't want UTC, and trying to get everything on the system to be MTC

Unix computers are UTC. This is necessary for lots of reasons. It is just the display of the time which gets localized. Don't try to fight it. Just set your TZ environment variable to whatever you'd like to be displayed. Then,

$ journalctl -S today
will show the correct times based on the TZ, as you want. As for apache logs, you'll need to read the apache documentation for log formatting. https://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/logs.html seems to spell out how to force the timezone of the system to be honor, but it isn't the default.

[#&thj^%]

Or this:

TZ="America/Denver" date
Tue Feb 21 04:59:26 PM MST 2023


Sorry I forgot the OP is new here.

tcsh
me-82b5:~> date
Tue Feb 21 05:05:30 PM MST 2023
me-82b5:~>


timedatectl
Local time: Tue 2023-02-21 17:18:33 MST
Universal time: Wed 2023-02-22 00:18:33 UTC
RTC time: Tue 2023-02-21 17:18:34
Time zone: America/Denver (MST, -0700)
System clock synchronized: yes
NTP service: active
RTC in local TZ: yes

Warning: The system is configured to read the RTC time in the local time zone.
This mode cannot be fully supported. It will create various problems
with time zone changes and daylight saving time adjustments. The RTC
time is never updated, it relies on external facilities to maintain it.
If at all possible, use RTC in UTC by calling
'timedatectl set-local-rtc 0'.

[hanji866]

Okay.. I found the issue. I'm running apache in a chroot. I copied /etc/localtime before I set up the timezone. So it was reading that. Removing that file and copying a fresh version fixed.

Thanks again for all the help and suggestions!
hanji