On the command line, you can set the time zone by setting the TZ environment variable or the _CS_TIMEZONE configuration string. To set the time zone when you boot your machine, you have to put the same information in the /etc/TIMEZONE file; see the description of /etc/system/sysinit in Controlling How Neutrino Starts.
Various time functions use the time-zone information to compute times relative to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), formerly known as Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
You usually set the time on your computer to UTC. Use the date command if the time isn't automatically maintained by the computer hardware.
You can set the TZ environment variable by using the env utility or the export shell command. You can use setconf to set _CS_TIMEZONE. For example:
env TZ=PST8PDT export TZ=PST8PDT setconf _CS_TIMEZONE PST8PDT
The format of the TZ environment variable or _CS_TIMEZONE string is as follows (spaces are for clarity only):
std offset dst offset, rule
The expanded format is as follows:
stdoffset[dst[offset][,start[/time],end[/time]]]
The components are:
hh[:mm[:ss]]
Minutes (mm) and seconds (ss) are optional. The hour (hh) is required; it may be a single digit.
The offset following std is required. If no offset follows dst, summer time is assumed to be one hour ahead of standard time.
You can use one or more digits; the value is always interpreted as a decimal number. The hour may be between 0 and 24; the minutes (and seconds), if present, between 0 and 59. If preceded by a "-", the time zone is east of the prime meridian; otherwise it's west (which may be indicated by an optional preceding "+").
date/time,date/time
where the first date describes when the change from standard to summer time occurs, and the second date describes when the change back happens. Each time field describes when, in current local time, the change to the other time is made.
The format of date may be one of the following:
The time has the same format as offset, except that no leading sign ("+" or "-") is allowed. The default, if time is omitted, is 02:00:00.