Bug#31713: Replacing GMT with UTC.
On Mon, Jan 11, 1999 at 11:45:53PM +0100, Wichert Akkerman wrote:
> > Now `UTC' is the official name. The british-centric word, `GMT'
> > should be avoided to use.
>
> Actually UTC and GMT are different things.
They are used in different contexts but are identical. UTC is the
international standard; GMT is the British civil time zone which is defined
as UTC+0. In most contexts, but not that of British civil time, you should
use UTC.
Sometimes GMT is used to refer to the geologically defined time that used to
be used before UTC (which is derived from an atomic clock with leap seconds
added; effectively GMT is the same as UTC but with the leap seconds spread
out).
The definition of international standard time changed from the geological
one to the atomic at the same time as the new name "UTC" was introduced,
causing some people to retain the name "GMT" for the old time; however it
isn't what GMT normally refers to these days.
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