[SOLVED] System.Now gives timestamp which is eight hours back
lazarus / 32-Linux

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alpine · 2024-04-24 16:58

Today I have installed a program written in FPC on a Debian 12
bookworm (32-bit) and to my surprise it logs all of its events with a
timestamp which is 8 hours back in the past. Those stamps are result
from calling the System.Now function.
The program runs properly on a several other Linux machines. I don't
have a clue where the problem lies with that particular Debian
machine.

Here is the output from timedatectl:
Code: [Select]# timedatectl
               Local time: Wed 2024-04-24 19:47:15 EEST
           Universal time: Wed 2024-04-24 16:47:15 UTC
                 RTC time: Wed 2024-04-24 16:47:15
                Time zone: Europe/Sofia (EEST, +0300)
System clock synchronized: yes
              NTP service: active
          RTC in local TZ: noand it is quite correct.

The printout from the program:
Code: [Select]TimeLogNow: 135843986499, TimeLogToDateTime(TimeLogNow):
2024.04.24 11:49
Now: 2024.04.24 11:49, TimeLogFromDateTime(Now): 135843986499The
difference is exactly -8 hrs, (+2 min not relevant, execution
difference)

Traced back the Now function until found an external:
Now -> GetLocalTime -> DoGetLocalDateTime -> fpgettimeofday ->
external name 'FPC_SYSC_GETTIMEOFDAY'

Anybody have a clue?

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Thaddy · 2024-04-24 17:59

now relies on the system clock, so check the system clock.
it does not rely on a time sever, only indirect if the system clock is
syncronized,

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Kays · 2024-04-24 18:14

Ensure that now writes to tDateTime variables, not any other real
type. Unfortunately they are assignment‑compatible so no error
reporting, but strange results.

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alpine · 2024-04-24 18:29

Thanks for the replies!

It actually was due to some OS misconfiguration, I don't know how it
happened...
Despite the right printout from the timedatectl, the command:
Code: [Select]#cat /etc/timezone printed: Code: [Select]US/Central
and after dpkg-reconfigure tzdata with the right location, which was
also preselected (?!) as it was set correctly (it wasn't) now it
prints:
 Code: [Select]#cat /etc/timezone
Europe/Sofia
After the reboot it now seems to be OK.
Sorry for the noise.

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Thaddy · 2024-04-25 15:04

Don't worry, this is a quite common oversight. Glad it works now.