Subj : JS Object save_msg()
To : deon
From : Digital Man
Date : Thu Dec 19 2024 11:43 am
Re: JS Object save_msg()
By: deon to Digital Man on Thu Dec 19 2024 08:45 pm
> Following on from my previous message, I think I understand what is going on
> - doesnt make sense to me why, but I get it.
>
> I raised this thread, because a message I just saved with save_msg(), when
> immediately read would display a message of "11hrs from now".
>
> I looked further into the code, and understand what age_of_posted_item()
> with smb_tzutc() is doing.
>
> When Sync starts, xpTimeZone_local() shows the offset from UTC, and sends a
> warning message on the console on startup, in my case its 660.
Right, and that startup warning was to hopefully avoid configuration issues like you observed ("11hrs from now").
> When saving a message with save_msg(), when_written_time, is populated with
> time() if no value is provided, which is the UTC time when the function is
> called.
>
> When displaying the message, the age is calculated between the value of
> when_written_time (which is utc), and time() [utc] minus xpTimeZone_local()
> plus an offset (which might be negative) derived from scfg -> System ->
> Local Time Zone.
The "Local Time Zone" is only used for locally posted messages. For messages imported from a network, the when_written_zone is often not the same as your local time zone.
> Since I had UTC there, it would be zero, so the age of the
> messages is immediately 660s old (utc minus 660 plus 0).
>
> Thus when when scfg -> System ->Local Time Zone equals xpTimeZone_Local(),
> they cancel each other out and age_of_posted_item() is truely however many
> seconds ago the message was stored. (utc minus 660 plus 660).
>
> If this is what is intended, then OK, I get it. Why somebody would find this
> useful I guess I dont understand.
Synchronet's been evolving since 1990, so not every feature or design decision is obvious. I don't know that it would be useful for a sysop to have a mismatch between the UTC offset of their configured local time zone (in SCFG) and their system time zone. Clearly, such a system could present surprising results in some situations; you pointed one out, but there are probably more. That startup warning message should probably be elevated to an error message.
--
digital man (rob)
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