From the docs on 9.1, I see
If timezone is not specified in postgresql.conf or as a server command-line option, the server attempts to use the value of the TZ environment variable as the default time zone. If TZ is not defined or is not any of the time zone names known to PostgreSQL, the server attempts to determine the operating system's default time zone by checking the behavior of the C library function localtime(). The default time zone is selected as the closest match among PostgreSQL's known time zones. (These rules are also used to choose the default value of log_timezone, if not specified.)
This section was however removed subsequently in 9.2, what happens if 9.2+ is not specified in postgresql.conf or as a server command-line option?
My timezone
currently says localtime
and I'm wondering what exactly that means and how it's decided. The original text seems to answer it if it's still applicable. Are we still relying on the C library function localtime()
?
# show timezone;
TimeZone
-----------
localtime
(1 row)
I was trying to add this information in this answer for completeness when I realized that the older docs had more details.