Re: Correct: System Thinks Hardware Clock is UTC

[Ben Finney <bignose@debian.org>]

Patrick Bartek <nemommxiv@gmail.com> writes:

> I could use hwclock --set --date=<yadda yadda> with the --localtime
> option, etc., to correct this but is there an easier way?

There is only one clock involved in this: the hardware clock.

By telling the operating system that your hardware clock is set to UTC,
you have told the operating system how to *render* the hardware clock's
time for your local time zone.

Setting the clock will set the hardware clock. By using a “set the
clock” tool, you will set the hardware clock — but the clock-setting
tool will take care of converting the time zone correctly.

I think the generally-applicable advice is correct: tell the OS that
your clock is set to UTC, and leave it to the operating system to figure
out the weirdness of time zones.

So I think you've done the right thing: tell the OS to keep the hardware
clock at UTC. Now you just need to tell it what the time is :-)

Assuming your machine is internet-connected, tell the operating system
to keep your hardware clock in sync with the Network Time Protocol, by
installing an NTP server. I can't recall what the default is; I use the
‘chrony’ package.

-- 
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Ben Finney