Advice on managing gcalcli time zone discrepancy

JasonMehmel · 2026-11-10 19:13:00

Hey all,

So my Canadian province (Alberta) decided to not do daylight savings and so didn't change the time zone.

Most things stayed the same but a few programs have gotten out of sync because of this, namely gcalcli!

I've got it running in a Conky and being out of sync has caused some confusion!

I'm trying to figure out how to manage this. My system time is set correctly (Edmonton, GMT-6) and I've tried refreshing gcalcli in case it was taking the system time that way.

There is a --locale option, but I *think* that's just affecting the language settings.

I figured someone here might have dealt with something similar, hence my question!

hhh · 2026-11-11 00:47:33

In a terminal, have you tried running...

sudo timedatectl set-ntp true

Maybe reboot after.

Sector11 · 2026-11-11 01:05:58

Personally - just me. I'd do a check first:

 2026·11·10 @ 22:02:59 ~
   $ timedatectl
               Local time: Tue 2026-11-10 22:04:11 -03
           Universal time: Wed 2026-11-11 01:04:11 UTC
                 RTC time: Wed 2026-11-11 01:04:12
                Time zone: America/Argentina/Buenos_Aires (-03, -0300)
System clock synchronized: yes
              NTP service: active
          RTC in local TZ: no
 
 2026·11·10 @ 22:04:11 ~
   $

JasonMehmel · 2026-11-11 18:58:14

It looks like my system time is set up correctly:

Local time: Wed 2026-11-11 12:52:57 CST
Universal time: Wed 2026-11-11 18:52:57 UTC
RTC time: Wed 2026-11-11 18:52:57
Time zone: America/Edmonton (CST, -0600)
System clock synchronized: yes
NTP service: active
RTC in local TZ: no

I'm wondering if it's something about the way gcalcli is interacting with the Google Calendar API, but I'm not very familiar with that side of things.

The Google Calendar information is accurate when I visit the web page, but maybe there's a system in the API that hasn't gotten the update yet that Alberta *hasn't* done the time change.

PackRat · 2026-11-11 21:25:49

My system time is set correctly (Edmonton, GMT-6)

Is Google Calendar using your system time zone or is it fixed to a GMT value? Apparently. there is a "Use device time zone" option for Google Calendar. I did a search of your issue and found this page for resetting Google Calendar instead of your system. Scroll down for DST.

https://timehopperapp.com/blog/google-c … g-fix.html

Sector11 · 2026-11-12 14:35:20

Thank you Jason.

I had no idea /Canada/ had been removed from:

/usr/share/zoneinfo

The old file I have here for Conky states - in no particular order:

Canada ( OLD OLD OLD )
         Atlantic: ${tztime Canada/Atlantic %R}
          Central: ${tztime Canada/Central %R}
East-Saskatchewan: ${tztime Canada/East-Saskatchewan %R}
          Eastern: ${tztime Canada/Eastern %R}
         Mountain: ${tztime Canada/Mountain %R}
     Newfoundland: ${tztime Canada/Newfoundland %R}
          Pacific: ${tztime Canada/Pacific %R}
     Saskatchewan: ${tztime Canada/Saskatchewan %R}
            Yukon: ${tztime Canada/Yukon %R}

              UTZ: ${tztime UTZ %R}
             ZULU: ${tztime ZULU %R}
        Greenwich: ${tztime Greenwich %R}

It's been edited:

Canada
     Newfoundland: ${tztime America/St_Johns %R}
         Atlantic: ${tztime America/Halifax %R}
          Eastern: ${tztime America/Toronto %R}
          Central: ${tztime America/Regina %R}
         Mountain: ${tztime America/Edmontom %R}
          Pacific: ${tztime America/Vancouver %R}
            Yukon: ${tztime America/Yellowknife %R}

              UTZ: ${tztime UTZ %R}
             ZULU: ${tztime ZULU %R}
        Greenwich: ${tztime Greenwich %R}

        London ON: ${tztime America/Toronto %R}

And Wikipedia: Time in Canada

And even those are messed up as I'm in a rush ...
I've got some fixing to do. As "Pacific" just doesn't exist anymore.

unklar · 2026-11-12 15:38:38

^^Edmonton is listed under /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Edmonton in my carbon environment. In the test Conky, this time would be:

conky.config = {
--# pkill -xf "conky -c /home/unklar/TEST/S11TESTconkyrc9" &
--# unklar 14.03.2017 arbeitet
	background = true,
--temperature_unit Fahrenheit

--# font settings
	use_xft = true,
--	font = 'monospace:size=9',
	font = 'FiraCode:size=9',
	uppercase = false,

--# update every 3 secs
	update_interval = 1,

--# stay running forever
	total_run_times = 0,

--# draw to root window
	own_window = true,
	own_window_type = 'normal',
	own_window_transparent = false,
	own_window_hints = 'skip_taskbar,skip_pager',
	own_window_colour = '#144556',--ffffff
	own_window_argb_visual = true,
	own_window_argb_value = 180,
	own_window_class = 'Conky',
	own_window_title = 'TEST',

--# avoid flickering
	double_buffer = true,

--# size
	minimum_width = 300, minimum_height = 400,
--	maximum_width 356

--# position
	alignment = 'bottom_right',--top_left',
	gap_x = 50,
	gap_y = 50,

--# colors
	default_color = '#ffffff',
	default_shade_color = '#000000',
	default_outline_color = '#000000',
	color0 = '#000000',--#ffffff  ##white
	color1 = '#144556',--#dunkelblue
	color2 = '#33b0dc',--#hellblue
	color3 = '#ff8c00',--#dark orange
	color4 = '#00ffff',--#cain
	color5 = '#c0c0c0',--#silver
	color6 = '#808080',--#gray
	color7 = '#00bf00',
	color8 = '#ff0000',
	color9 = '#00ff00',

--# borders
	draw_borders = false,
	stippled_borders = 8,
--border_inner_margin 4
	border_width = 1,

--# shades
	draw_shades = false,

--# outline
	draw_outline = false,

--# spacer
--use_spacer no

--# buffers
	no_buffers = true,

--# sampling
	cpu_avg_samples = 2,
	net_avg_samples = 2,

--#-- LUA --##
--lua_load ~/TEST/Owaage/scripts/main.lua
--lua_draw_hook_pre conky_main
--${image /home/unklar/S11/TEST/BHH_3.png -p 90,100 -s 178x250}
};

conky.text = [[
${time %T}${alignr}UTC ${utime %T}
${uptime}${alignr}${time %x}
${alignc}CPU Avg ${if_match ${cpu cpu0}<10}${color1}00${color6}${cpu cpu0}\
${else}${if_match ${cpu cpu0}<100}${color1}0${color5}${cpu cpu0}\
${else}${color4}${cpu cpu0}${endif}${endif}${color5}%${color}
${alignc}Conky v${conky_version}
${alignc}${color4}${membar 0,25}${color} ↓ test code ↓ ${color4}${membar 0,25}${color}
${color4}${membar 0}${color}

London GB: ${alignr}${execpi 1 TZ=Europe/London date "+%a %d. %b %H:%M:%S"}

London GB: ${alignr}${tztime Europe/London %a %d. %b %H:%M:%S}

London GB: AM/PM${alignr}${tztime Europe/London %a %d. %b %I %r}

London GB: AM/PM${alignr}${tztime Europe/London %a %d. %b %I:%M:%S %p}

Conky:     ${alignc}${time %?} or  ${time %a %d. %b %H:%M:%S}

${alignc}${color cyan}${time %A, %d. %b. %Y} ${color white}: ${time %H:%M:%S}

${font monofur:size=16}Edmonton: ${alignr}${execpi 1 TZ=America/Edmonton date "+%a %d. %b %H:%M:%S"}${font}

${color4}${membar 0}${color}
${alignc}${color4}${membar 0,25}${color} ↑ between lines ↑ ${color4}${membar 0,25}${color}

]];

There must be another way to do it.

Edit: To simplify this in Conky (without execpi), it would also be possible to tztime

${font monofur:size=16}Edmonton: ${alignr}${tztime America/Edmonton %a %d. %b %H:%M:%S}${font}

Saves some CPU

Last edited by unklar (2026-11-12 16:14:41)

JasonMehmel · 2026-11-12 17:41:21

PackRat wrote:

My system time is set correctly (Edmonton, GMT-6)
Is Google Calendar using your system time zone or is it fixed to a GMT value? Apparently. there is a "Use device time zone" option for Google Calendar. I did a search of your issue and found this page for resetting Google Calendar instead of your system. Scroll down for DST.
https://timehopperapp.com/blog/google-c … g-fix.html

The browser-based view of Google Calendar doesn't have a device option, and I'm not sure how to tell gcalcli to use system time zone (or a city-based one).

This is why I'm wondering if there's an option in the API somehow. I've tried refreshing the credentials, as I thought that might 'kick' the old setting and have it grab the new one.

The other overall problem is that it's just Alberta doing this, other locations along what used to be the same time zone did do the daylight savings shift, and that's what gcalcli is following.

That's a good resource, though!

Sector11 · Yesterday 02:13:09

The problem as I see it is gcalcli is not respecting time setting on the machines it's being run from.

Also I see from the conky man pafe that it's a bit off as well . In the example is uses:

 {snip} look in /usr/share/zoneinfo.  e.g. US/Pacific, Europe/Zurich, etc.

/US/ like /Canada/ no longer exists. All under /America/ now

And as unklar shows ${tztime ....} is a proper Conky command

Maybe this will help

JasonMehmel · Yesterday 17:58:04

Sector11 wrote:

The problem as I see it is gcalcli is not respecting time setting on the machines it's being run from.
Also I see from the conky man pafe that it's a bit off as well . In the example is uses:
 {snip} look in /usr/share/zoneinfo.  e.g. US/Pacific, Europe/Zurich, etc.
/US/ like /Canada/ no longer exists. All under /America/ now
And as unklar shows ${tztime ....} is a proper Conky command
Maybe this will help

That 'not respecting the time setting' thing is exactly right.

That link mostly focuses on mobile and web apps, which I've already checked.

That ${tztime ....} method is helpful (and interesting to know that things changed on that front regarding listings) but the challenge I'm having is that as far as I can tell, there isn't a method to send that command into gcalcli.

In the man page for gcalcli,, there's a --locale option, but as far as I can tell, that's mostly about language and text option settings, not an actual location that I can send.

It's as though the Google Calendar API is running off of standard times, and perhaps at the browser / phone levels it's getting the update for Alberta's new time zone. The gcalcli program might not be looking at the machine time for it's request.

(But then I have tried refreshing the cache as well. I'd hoped it would capture the new time zone, to no avail.)

I've been reviewing the man page a lot, and haven't noticed a tool or command for this, but maybe there's a way to shift everything an hour...

PackRat · Yesterday 21:32:12

It's as though the Google Calendar API is running off of standard times,

Can you get into the settings for your Google Calendar API and change your location/timezone?

I don't know if this is the right calendar, but according to this you can do it: https://developers.google.com/workspace … s/overview

I would think there has to be a way to change that. What are you supposed to do if you move to Kamloops?

Döbbie03 · Yesterday 22:35:19

See what these commands bring:

python3 -c "import datetime; print(datetime.datetime.now().astimezone())"

Shows what python thinks the time is

pipx runpip gcalcli list 2>/dev/null | grep -iE 'tz|dateutil'

If you install gcalcli was installed with pipx, this will tell us what it thinks the time is.

#1 2026-11-10 19:13:00

Advice on managing gcalcli time zone discrepancy

#2 2026-11-11 00:47:33

Re: Advice on managing gcalcli time zone discrepancy

#3 2026-11-11 01:05:58

Re: Advice on managing gcalcli time zone discrepancy

#4 2026-11-11 18:58:14

Re: Advice on managing gcalcli time zone discrepancy

#5 2026-11-11 21:25:49

Re: Advice on managing gcalcli time zone discrepancy

#6 2026-11-12 14:35:20

Re: Advice on managing gcalcli time zone discrepancy

#7 2026-11-12 15:38:38

Re: Advice on managing gcalcli time zone discrepancy

#8 2026-11-12 17:41:21

Re: Advice on managing gcalcli time zone discrepancy

#9 Yesterday 02:13:09

Re: Advice on managing gcalcli time zone discrepancy

#10 Yesterday 17:58:04

Re: Advice on managing gcalcli time zone discrepancy

#11 Yesterday 21:32:12

Re: Advice on managing gcalcli time zone discrepancy

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Re: Advice on managing gcalcli time zone discrepancy

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