[squid-users] How to change the timezone for Squid ?

[Amos Jeffries]

On 9/02/2016 5:03 a.m., Sebastien.Boulianne wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> When a user reach an error page, he got that :
> CacheHost: squid.cpu.ca
> ErrPage: ERR_CONNECT_FAIL
> Err: (110) Connection timed out
> TimeStamp: Fri, 05 Feb 2016 22:54:08 GMT
> ClientIP: xxx.xxx.xxx.xx
> 
> The problem is; I am from qc.ca so the timezone should be GMT-5.

Until the Canadian government changes their daylight time. Then it would
be something else. local-TZ are legal fictions.

The government over here has been known to shift the local TZ around
just so people can watch local sports matches in daylight hours without
businesses having to change opening hours.


> How can I set the timezone in squid.conf ? Is it a way ?


Two things;

1) like Eliezer says its a matter of using %t vs %T in the error page to
show Internet time (that GMT one), or local time.

The above looks like a custom error page layout, so talk to whoever
created that page to adjust the format.


2) Internet does not work on people localized time. It is all
synchronized to UTC. That timestamp is not even GMT, but UTC scale with
a "GMT" text string so as not to confuse broken parsers that can't
handle a neutral TZ (like the one in your head, and some software ones too).

Also, the error pages generated by Squid are emitted to external
visitors attempting and forbidden access through your proxy. Using a
neurtral TZ on data potentially emitted publicly is better for both
security and privacy than revealing where your server is located.

Amos