GNU bug report logs - #8356
date bug

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From: Bob Proulx <bob <at> proulx.com>
To: gmail <arbogast.cedric <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 8356 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: 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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