GNU bug report logs - #8356
date bug

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Fulvio Donazzolo <fulvio.bz <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: date bug
Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2011 16:48:32 +0200

$ date -d "02:50"
date: invalid date `02:50'


$ date -d "01:50"
Sun Mar 27 01:50:00 CET 2011

$ date -d "03:50"
Sun Mar 27 03:50:00 CEST 2011

bug only with "02:XX"

Message #8 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: gmail <arbogast.cedric <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: bug#8356: date bug, precision, universal time not affected
Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2011 22:01:19 +0200

I notice this behavior with coreutils-8.9 :

    [root <at> pompomgalli]# /bin/date -d "02:50"
    /bin/date: invalid date `02:50'

The universal time parsing seems not affected :

    [root <at> pompomgalli]# /bin/date -u -d "02:50"
    Sun Mar 27 02:50:00 UTC 2011


Regards, Cédric.


Le 27/03/2011 16:48, Fulvio Donazzolo a écrit :
> $ date -d "02:50"
> date: invalid date `02:50'
>
>
> $ date -d "01:50"
> Sun Mar 27 01:50:00 CET 2011
>
> $ date -d "03:50"
> Sun Mar 27 03:50:00 CEST 2011
>
> bug only with "02:XX"
>
>
>

Message #11 received at 8356 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Bob Proulx <bob <at> proulx.com>
To: Fulvio Donazzolo <fulvio.bz <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 8356 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#8356: date bug
Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2011 13:44:41 -0600

tags 8356 + moreinfo notabug
thanks

Fulvio Donazzolo wrote:
> $ date -d "02:50"
> date: invalid date `02:50'
> 
> $ date -d "01:50"
> Sun Mar 27 01:50:00 CET 2011
> 
> $ date -d "03:50"
> Sun Mar 27 03:50:00 CEST 2011
> 
> bug only with "02:XX"

Thank you for your report but this is almost certainly not a bug in
date but a misunderstanding of Daylight Savings Time in your timezone.

It looks to me like you have transitioned from CET) Central European
Time to CEST (Central European Summer Time).  During the transition
the local time "springs forward" and skips an hour.  During that hour
there is not any 02:XX time that is valid.  It does not exist.

Please read this FAQ and see if it matches your problem.  It includes
quite a lot of description of the issues.

  http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/faq/#The-date-command-is-not-working-right_002e

Bob

Message #16 received at 8356 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Bob Proulx <bob <at> proulx.com>
To: gmail <arbogast.cedric <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 8356 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#8356: date bug, precision, universal time not affected
Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2011 15:50:03 -0600

gmail wrote:
> I notice this behavior with coreutils-8.9 :
> 
>     [root <at> pompomgalli]# /bin/date -d "02:50"
>     /bin/date: invalid date `02:50'
> 
> The universal time parsing seems not affected :
> 
>     [root <at> pompomgalli]# /bin/date -u -d "02:50"
>     Sun Mar 27 02:50:00 UTC 2011

Thank you for adding additional information to this bug report.
However this is not a bug in date but rather a misunderstanding of
Daylight Saving Time in your timezone.

With the transition from CET (Central European Time) to CEST (Central
European Summer Time) the 02:00 - 03:00 hour of time has been skipped.
It does not exist and is not a valid time.  This is not a bug in date.
This is by design of the law that specifies your timezone.

To avoid the political boundaries you can simply avoid the time near
to time change such as using 12:00 noon or you can use UTC which never
changes to or from daylight saving time.

Please see the FAQ for a detailed explanation.

  http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/faq/#The-date-command-is-not-working-right_002e

Bob

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