get_localzone returns 'local' on alpine linux docker container (Python:alpine)

[ibigpapa]

When i run tzlocal.get_localzone() it returns <StaticTzInfo 'local'>

Steps to recreate

1. Get into shell of container: docker run --rm -it python:alpine /bin/sh
2. Install tzlocal pip install tzlocal
3. Launch python python
4. Import and test

>>> tzlocal.get_localzone()
<StaticTzInfo 'local'>

output of /etc/localtime

cat /etc/localtime 
TZif2UTCTZif2UTC
UTC0

/usr/local/etc/localtime does not exist.

[regebro]

This means none of the ways to figure out the time zone name worked. There may not be one on Alpine Linux, or it's sufficiently non-standard to not already be included.

Including a way would be possible if there is a reliable way to deduce the name in standard setups.

[ibigpapa]

Heres a way to determine the name.

cat /etc/os-release 
NAME="Alpine Linux"
ID=alpine
VERSION_ID=3.4.6
PRETTY_NAME="Alpine Linux v3.4"
HOME_URL="http://alpinelinux.org"
BUG_REPORT_URL="http://bugs.alpinelinux.org"

[regebro]

No, I mean the name of the time zone.

For example, Ubuntu writes it to /etc/timezone

[ibigpapa]

You put me on the right path it appears that the Alpine docker container doesn't have TZ data in there. Following https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Setting_the_timezone, makes it produce the proper TZ info when you call tzlocal.get_localzone()

[regebro]

Super!

[benjaoming]

This is reported to be a problem too in Windows' Ubuntu Bash thing: learningequality/kolibri#2484

[regebro]

Your system isn't configured in such a way that it's possible to figure out the timezone name. The timezone object returned is therefore using the name "local" for the time zone. This is not a bug, but a feature.

If you want a time zone name, configure your system properly.

[benjaoming]

It's not my system, I'm reporting this on behalf of others having problems. The way I solved it wasn't to do much but raise pytz.UnknownTimeZoneError

[regebro]

Yeah, if you need a timezone name, and tzlocal doesn't give that, that's a reasonable way to handle it.