<?xml version='1.0'?> <!--*-nxml-*--> <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN" "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd"> <!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later --> <refentry id="localtime"> <refentryinfo> <title>localtime</title> <productname>systemd</productname> </refentryinfo> <refmeta> <refentrytitle>localtime</refentrytitle> <manvolnum>5</manvolnum> </refmeta> <refnamediv> <refname>localtime</refname> <refpurpose>Local timezone configuration file</refpurpose> </refnamediv> <refsynopsisdiv> <para><filename>/etc/localtime</filename> -> <filename>../usr/share/zoneinfo/…</filename></para> </refsynopsisdiv> <refsect1> <title>Description</title> <para>The <filename>/etc/localtime</filename> file configures the system-wide timezone of the local system that is used by applications for presentation to the user. It should be an absolute or relative symbolic link pointing to <filename>/usr/share/zoneinfo/</filename>, followed by a timezone identifier such as <literal>Europe/Berlin</literal> or <literal>Etc/UTC</literal>. The resulting link should lead to the corresponding binary <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>tzfile</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> timezone data for the configured timezone.</para> <para>Because the timezone identifier is extracted from the symlink target name of <filename>/etc/localtime</filename>, this file may not be a normal file or hardlink.</para> <para>If <filename>/etc/localtime</filename> is missing, the default <literal>UTC</literal> timezone is used.</para> <para>The timezone may be overridden for individual programs by using the <varname>$TZ</varname> environment variable. See <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>environ</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para> <para>You may use <citerefentry><refentrytitle>timedatectl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> to change the settings of this file from the command line during runtime. Use <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-firstboot</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> to initialize the time zone on mounted (but not booted) system images.</para> </refsect1> <refsect1> <title>See Also</title> <para><simplelist type="inline"> <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry></member> <member><citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>tzset</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry></member> <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>localtime</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry></member> <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>timedatectl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry></member> <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-timedated.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry></member> <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-firstboot</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry></member> </simplelist></para> </refsect1> </refentry>