Does WordPress handle a *server* time zone change?

  • Resolved zkarj

    (@zkarj)


    4 years, 2 months ago

    My server currently runs in UTC. Multiple (separate) WordPress sites all run in NZST/NZDT. Everything works as I expect.

    But… I am considering changing the server time zone to NZST/NZDT. How will WordPress handle this change?

    • This topic was modified 4 years, 2 months ago by Jan Dembowski. Reason: Moved to Fixing WordPress, this is not an Everything else WordPress topic
Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • Mwale Kalenga

    (@mwalek)

    4 years, 2 months ago

    Hi @zkarj ,

    You’re not the first one to consider doing this 😅, but it’s a really bad idea to change the server time to anything other than UTC.

    Why? Long story short, UTC is the most reliable.

    You can find a more detailed argument against changing the time zone in the 2 articles linked below:

    http://yellerapp.com/posts/2015-01-12-the-worst-server-setup-you-can-make.html

    https://kylekatarnls.medium.com/always-use-utc-dates-and-times-8a8200ca3164

    Hope this helps.

    Kind regards,
    Mwale

    Moderator Yui

    (@fierevere)

    永子

    4 years, 2 months ago

    Technically there should not be any problem. PHP with proper/recent timezonedb (Olson) should handle things correctly.

    I do run some servers with local timezone as default, works OK.

    Thread Starter zkarj

    (@zkarj)

    4 years, 2 months ago

    Thanks @mwalek, those are real eye openers! Much of it would not apply to me, but there is stuff in there I had not considered so I have decided that the ONE known downside of UTC (mental calculation when I need to consult the logs) is preferable to the “ticking time bomb” of running the server in local.

    Thanks also @fierevere. I see you qualify with “Technically”. 🙂

    I may take another approach and work out a way of automatically translating from local to UTC in my scripts.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

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