[Lazarus] Is there a global timezone-independent time available?

[Denis Kozlov]

You can use LazSysUtils.NowUTC, and then there is also PascalTZ package 
if you want to convert between timezones.

There is a ticket with a patch for adding a similar function to FPC, but 
it needs some attention:
https://bugs.freepascal.org/view.php?id=30394 
<https://bugs.freepascal.org/view.php?id=30394>

Regards,
Denis


On 03/05/2021 14:59, Bo Berglund via lazarus wrote:
> If I use Now() to retrieve a TDateTime value I get it in whatever timezone
> (including DST) the box I run on is set to...
> And there is no indication of the timezone used (TDateTime is just a double
> after all).
>
> So now I wonder if there is some kind of globally constant time one can read
> which can be used in scheduling applications no matter what time zone is used.
> For example something like NowUTC() or similar?
>
> I have been struggling with the user part of a remote monitoring system, which
> will run on a RaspberryPi under Linux (Debian flavour).
>
> And there are lots of problems when going between the actual remote system and
> the config application because of the time zone differences.
> It would help a lot if one could use a time that is not messed with and is the
> same everywhere...
>
> The important thing here is that two systems located at different places on
> Earth should agree on such a time value if it is taken at the same absolute
> instant.
>
> And what is the useful resolution of the times?
> seconds, miliseconds or what?
>