Linux: phpinfo() system’s timezone error date.timezone

Posted on in Categories , , last updated January 18, 2011

I‘m getting the following errors in my log file whenever I use phpinfo() function:

[10-Jan-2011 18:39:08] PHP Warning: phpinfo(): It is not safe to rely on the system’s timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected ‘America/Chicago’ for ‘CST/-6.0/no DST’ instead in /home/servers/http/dev/testpc.php on line 2

How do I fix this problem under UNIX / Linux php running Apache or lighttpd web server?

This problem or warning can be easily fixed by editing the /etc/php.ini file. Open a command-line terminal (select Applications > Accessories > Terminal), and then type the following commands or login using ssh to the remote server. First find out your timezone from /etc/sysconfig/clock file, enter:
# cat /etc/sysconfig/clock
ZONE="America/Chicago"
UTC=true
ARC=false

Edit /etc/php.ini, enter:
# vi /etc/php.ini
Make the changes as follows, enter (find date.timezone and update it as follows):

date.timezone="America/Chicago"

Save and close the file. Restart the Apache server:
# service httpd restart
If you are using lighttpd type the following to restart it:
# service lighttpd restart
Note: If you don’t have access to the /etc/php.ini file, add the following line in your php file before any date related functions:

<?php
   ....
   ....
        date_default_timezone_set("America/Chicago");
        phpinfo();
  ...
 ..
?>

Posted by: Vivek Gite

The author is the creator of nixCraft and a seasoned sysadmin and a trainer for the Linux operating system/Unix shell scripting. He has worked with global clients and in various industries, including IT, education, defense and space research, and the nonprofit sector. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Google+.

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4 comment

  3. I tried this and it didnt work for me

    cat /etc/sysconfig/clock
ZONE="America/Los_Angeles"
UTC=true
ARC=false

    I’ve tried everything that I’ve found even on here.

    Time Zone Warning
    Similar to the Deprecated Warning, you may see the following warning in your logs
    PHP Warning: strtotime(): It is not safe to rely on the system’s timezone settings. You are
    *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case
    you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled
    the timezone identifier. We selected ‘Europe/Berlin’ for ‘CET/1.0/no DST’ instead in
    /usr/share/cacti/include/global_constants.php on line 156
    In this case, simply follow the directions. Set your timezone in /etc/php.ini
    ; Defines the default timezone used by the date functions
    ; http://www.php.net/manual/en/datetime.configuration.php#ini.date.timezone
    date.timezone =America/Regina
    Of course, read http://www.php.net/manual/en/datetime.configuration.php#ini.date.timezone , and find your correct timezone.
    As always, restart apache after any change to /etc/php.ini

    I still get this error.

    Warning: strtotime() [function.strtotime]: It is not safe to rely on the system’s timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected ‘America/Los_Angeles’ for ‘PDT/-7.0/DST’ instead in /var/www/html/include/global_constants.php on line 165

  4. Congratulations on topic …
    Very simple and helped me with such precision .. My error_log files were growing too!

    thank you

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