tzconfig

Launch timezone configuration utility

$ tzconfig

tzconfig

tzconfig is a legacy command, primarily found on Debian-based systems (like Ubuntu), used for interactively configuring the system's timezone. It typically presents a menu-driven interface, guiding the user through the selection of their geographical region and then a specific city within that region. This process updates the /etc/timezone file with the chosen timezone name and manages the /etc/localtime symbolic link (or copies the appropriate zone information file) to point to the correct timezone data from /usr/share/zoneinfo.

While still present on some systems for backward compatibility, its functionality has largely been superseded by more modern and robust tools like timedatectl on systems utilizing systemd, or by directly manipulating the timezone configuration files. Its main utility lies in its user-friendly, interactive nature, making it accessible for non-expert users to set up timezones without manual file editing.

Legacy Tool: tzconfig is considered a legacy command. On modern Linux distributions, especially those using systemd, timedatectl is the preferred and more comprehensive utility for managing time, date, and timezone settings.
Debian/Ubuntu Specific: This command is predominantly found on Debian and Ubuntu systems. Other distributions might employ different tools (e.g., timedatectl on Red Hat/CentOS/Fedora, or dedicated GUI tools).
Interactive Only: It is designed exclusively for interactive use and is generally unsuitable for scripting without complex automation tools like 'expect', which is usually discouraged in favor of non-interactive methods.

tzconfig primarily interacts with two key configuration files:

• /etc/timezone: This file stores the name of the configured timezone (e.g., "America/New_York").
• /etc/localtime: This is typically a symbolic link (or a copy) to the specific timezone data file located under /usr/share/zoneinfo/ (e.g., /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/New_York). Applications read this file to determine the local time.

tzconfig has been a standard component on Debian-based systems for many years, providing a straightforward method for users to set their system timezone. It emerged as an accessible interactive configuration tool for the tzdata package, which contains global timezone definitions. With the evolution of Linux distributions and the adoption of unified init systems like systemd, more consolidated utilities such as timedatectl were introduced. These newer tools absorbed the functionalities previously handled by commands like tzconfig, offering broader control over system time. Although tzconfig remains available for simplicity and backward compatibility, its role has diminished in favor of the more comprehensive timedatectl for system-wide time management.

timedatectl(1), dpkg-reconfigure(8), tzdata(7), date(1), hwclock(8)