postgresql timezone and OS localtime correspondence

Pavel Suderevsky <psuderevsky@gmail.com> writes:

My question is related to correspondence of postgresql "timezone" parameter
with OS timezone settings in debian and red hat family systems.

In debian by default postgresql "timezone" parameter value is "localtime"
and it succesfully gets current OS timezone. (most probably it is not
dynamically updated and with changing OS timezone postgresql to be
restarted likewise, but still)

In centos 7.2 postgresql doesn't accept "localtime" value and timezone must
be specified directly.

The reason that happens is that Debian creates a symlink named "localtime"
within the timezone data file tree (probably via zic's -l option, though
maybe they do it by hand). Red Hat doesn't do that; they follow a
different historical convention in which /etc/localtime defines the system
default zone. Arguably, "zic -l" is a violation of filesystem layout
conventions, since it puts what ought to be system-specific configuration
data into /usr/share.

So the common question is: is there a way to configure postgresql server to
get OS localtime value rather than setting it manually in red hat family
systems?

You could make your own symlink, though I'm unsure whether it'd survive
tzdata package updates.

regards, tom lane

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