PMMail/2 closes unexpectedly

[Trevor Smith]

On Fri, 17 Mar 2000 14:24:56 +0000 (GMT), Simon Bowring wrote:

>     I think Trevor Smith, Norm, Ralph Cohen and Jim Nuytens
>     should all check their TZ settings!

I'm curious. What exactly do you see wrong with my TZ setting? Are
you not using PMMail? My date/time looks proper to me *in PMMail* so
I'm a bit surprised to hear someone on this list complain about it.

In fact, though, my TZ setting *is* technically wrong, or rather, my
real time clock setting is wrong, as I understand the TZ's function,
because:

1. a computer's real time clock (RTC) should be set to universal
time.
2. the TZ variable should be set to indicate the computer's offset
from universal time. In my case:
       SET TZ=ast4adt.
3. *ALL* applications should calculate and display local time by
checking the RTC and adding or subtracting the TZ offset.

There are resources on the Internet which explain why the above
*SHOULD* be the proper way to do it.

Unfortunately though, *ALMOST ALL* applications for OS/2 are
programmed _incorrectly_ and they ignore the TZ variable when
displaying the local time. In short, almost all OS/2 applications
assume that the RTC is set to local time, not universal time.

This means that if you set your RTC and TZ "properly", almost any
OS/2 time display program available will display the incorrect time.
In my case, it is Object Desktop's Control Center clock which reads
the RTC and assumes it is local time. Therefore I am forced to
either:

1. stop using OD's Control Center clock as an indication of local
time; or
2. set my RTC to local time (this is the option I chose)

Suggestions for a fix are welcome since I would prefer to set my RTC
to universal time.


-- 
 Trevor Smith          |          trevor@haligonian.com
 PGP public key available at: www.haligonian.com/trevor

PGP Public Key Fingerprint= A68C C4EC C163 5C0A 6CFA  671F 05D4 0B30 318B AFD6