How to Change the Timezone in Linux

Most modern Linux distributions have user-friendly programs to set the timezone, often accessible through the program menus or right-clicking the clock in a desktop environment such as KDE or GNOME. Failing that it's possible to manually change the system timezone in Linux in a few short steps.

 Steps

1. 
   
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   For ubuntu: [1]http://webonrails.com/2009/07/15/change-timezone-of-ubuntu-machine-from-command-line/
   
   
   

    

   
   


2. 
   
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   Logged in as root, check which timezone your machine is currently using by executing `date`. You'll see something like Mon 17 Jan 2005 12:15:08 PM PST, PST in this case is the current timezone.
   
   


3. 
   
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   Change to the directory /usr/share/zoneinfo here you will find a list of time zone regions. Choose the most appropriate region, if you live in Canada or the US this directory is the "America" directory.
   
   


4. 
   
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   If you wish, backup the previous timezone configuration by copying it to a different location. Such as
   

   mv /etc/localtime  /etc/localtime-old

   
   
   


5. 
   
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   Create a symbolic link to the appropriate timezone from /etc/localtime. Example:
   

   ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Amsterdam /etc/localtime 

   
   
   
   
   
    


6. 
   
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   If you have the utility rdate, update the current system time by executing
   

   /usr/bin/rdate -s time-a.nist.gov

   
   
   
   

    

   
   
   
   
    


7. 
   
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   Set the ZONE entry in the file /etc/sysconfig/clock file (e.g. "America/Los_Angeles")
   
   
   
   
    


8. 
   
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   Set the hardware clock by executing:
   

   /sbin/hwclock --systohc