YaBB should use gmtime, not local time

[luisr]

Just noticed today that YaBB (both SE and Gold) do not handle properly the start of DST.  Why??

In my case it didn't.  My web host is located in California (where DST started today) and I live in Puerto Rico, where DST is not observed.  Today I noticed that the board was showing the incorrect time.  It was one hour ahead of real time.

I am in the middle of transferring my board from YaBB 1 Gold SP1 to YaBB SE.  Both boards suffer from the same problem.

The board should use gmtime and look for the DST flag instead of the local time.

[Jeff Lewis]

We use strftime so that we can also use set locale.  If your server changes it's time for daylight savings time then your forum will also change as it uses the local server time.

[DarkMinD]

thats true i also got that lil prob. since i live in PR since i just cant do anything about it i just change the time +1 in the preference setting in the board

[Joseph Fung]

You also have to keep in mind that it isn't the entire world that uses DST.  In fact, I'm pretty sure that the majority of it doesn't.

[luisr]

Why do you need to set locale?  Just have the administrator enter the time zone relative to GMT in the forum configuration.

[Jeff Lewis]

Set locale is used so that people can have months and days in their own language.

Why set GMT, just change your time offset.

[luisr]

The time zone does not have any effect on the language used to display months, etc.  The point is that there will be (and there are) boards that reside on servers located in places where DST is observed, yet the location that the site is intended to serve does not.  This makes administrators go and change the time offset every time the time changes.

By using GMT and letting administrators tell whether or not their location observes DST, the time is handled correctly regardless of time zone and DST differences between server and administrator.  Don't forget that web hosts are not necessarily chosen for their location and users are not necessarily close geographically.

[Jeff Lewis]

Let me explain...strftime allows users to make use of sel_locale so that their days and months are in their language.  So this is why we make use of the current time format.

If an admin has to sweat changing the time offset twice a year I don't feel sorry for them.

That being said, Joseph and I have talked about it before...I just think it's pretty petty (and that's only my opinion).

[alexrolko]

My web host is located in California (where DST started today) and I live in Puerto Rico, where DST is not observed.  Today I noticed that the board was showing the incorrect time.  It was one hour ahead of real time

one hour ahead of your local time... hrmm sounds like a timezone.

Don't forget that web hosts are not necessarily chosen for their location and users are not necessarily close geographically

which is exactly why you can easly change the time by simply changing the time offset in the Forum Preferences and Settings.