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Is it possible to update an Olson timezone database without stopping the current running systems?

I think that the renaming of folders and files of the or inside the zoneinfo folder can't accomplish that purpose. Am I right?

How can we do an update without affecting the current running systems?

EDIT:

Consider a system that calculate local time (asking it for time api of libc) all the time for different time zones.

I wonder what would happen if we replace a zoneinfo folder structure while this system is running. And what would be the safe way to update the Olson database manually?

Like, does zic tool update this structure incrementally or it just erase and create new files?

Luciano
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1 Answers1

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Of course you can! (in some OS Debian Centos) and of course it doesn't mean you should (too easy to make a mistake).

You could download the full (updated) Olson database from IANA

But better to use the distribution tools to do the change.

For debian (use sid enabled only if the version of tz you need is not available yet (the last one is available already)):

  • Enable sid source (only if required).
  • Update and install only tz-data if there is a new version available (2018f Released 2018-10-18 is available now even for stable)
  • Disable sid (always).

I am pretty sure that similar procedures are available for other distros (CentOS)

# yum update tzdata
  • I'm my case, I'm assuming a manual update, when we edit the source files (like vi southamerica file), compile it, and install it. Is there a way to install them safely while there are many applications running? – Luciano Oct 22 '18 at 13:45