Re: Setting time zone commands

"cnliou" <cnliou@so-net.net.tw> writes:
> The documentation (Appendix B.2. Date/Time Key Words) says
> that the following SQL's are legal, but actually they are
> not:
> SET TIME ZONE TO '<any time zone abbreviation>'

The documentation does not actually say any such thing, although its
failure to clarify what it *is* saying isn't great.  I have reworded it
as follows in CVS tip:

: Table B-4 shows the time zone abbreviations recognized by PostgreSQL in
: date/time input values. PostgreSQL uses internal tables for time zone
: input decoding, since there is no standard operating system interface to
: provide access to general, cross-time zone information. The underlying
: operating system is used to provide time zone information for output,
: however.
:
: Keep in mind also that the time zone names recognized by SET TIMEZONE
: are operating-system dependent and may have little to do with Table
: B-4. For example, some systems recognize values like 'Europe/Rome' in
: SET TIMEZONE.

We do not make any attempt to document what timezone names are accepted
by SET TIMEZONE, because there is in general no way to find out :-(

            regards, tom lane