Time zoning should be turned on by default with UTC

railties/CHANGELOG

@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 *Edge*
 
+* Set config.time_zone to UTC by default [DHH]
+
 * Added default .gitignore (this is just recognizing Git market share, don't throw a hissy if you use another SCM) [DHH]
 
 * Added cookies.permanent, cookies.signed, and cookies.permanent.signed accessor for common cookie actions [DHH]. Examples:

railties/lib/rails/application.rb

@@ -207,18 +207,16 @@ def call(env)
     # Sets the default value for Time.zone
     # If assigned value cannot be matched to a TimeZone, an exception will be raised.
     initializer :initialize_time_zone do
-      if config.time_zone
-        require 'active_support/core_ext/time/zones'
-        zone_default = Time.__send__(:get_zone, config.time_zone)
-
-        unless zone_default
-          raise \
-            'Value assigned to config.time_zone not recognized.' +
-            'Run "rake -D time" for a list of tasks for finding appropriate time zone names.'
-        end
+      require 'active_support/core_ext/time/zones'
+      zone_default = Time.__send__(:get_zone, config.time_zone)
 
-        Time.zone_default = zone_default
+      unless zone_default
+        raise \
+          'Value assigned to config.time_zone not recognized.' +
+          'Run "rake -D time" for a list of tasks for finding appropriate time zone names.'
       end
+
+      Time.zone_default = zone_default
     end
 
     # Set the i18n configuration from config.i18n but special-case for the load_path which should be

railties/lib/rails/configuration.rb

@@ -230,6 +230,10 @@ def log_path
     def log_level
       @log_level ||= RAILS_ENV == 'production' ? :info : :debug
     end
+
+    def time_zone
+      @time_zone ||= "UTC"
+    end
 
     def i18n
       @i18n ||= begin

railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/templates/config/application.rb

@@ -17,15 +17,14 @@ class Application < Rails::Application
     # config.active_record.observers = :cacher, :garbage_collector, :forum_observer
 
     # Set Time.zone default to the specified zone and make Active Record auto-convert to this zone.
-    # Run "rake -D time" for a list of tasks for finding time zone names.
-    config.time_zone = 'UTC'
+    # Run "rake -D time" for a list of tasks for finding time zone names. Default is UTC.
+    # config.time_zone = 'Central Time (US & Canada)'
 
     # The default locale is :en and all translations from config/locales/*.rb,yml are auto loaded.
     # config.i18n.load_path += Dir[Rails.root.join('my', 'locales', '*.{rb,yml}')]
     # config.i18n.default_locale = :de
 
-    # Configure generators values. Many other options are available, be sure to
-    # check the documentation.
+    # Configure generators values. Many other options are available, be sure to check the documentation.
     # config.generators do |g|
     #   g.orm             :active_record
     #   g.template_engine :erb