Symfony2 and date_default_timezone_get() - It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings

Question

I have a Symfony2 project. I updated my php to 5.5.7 today and since then, I am getting the

Warning: date_default_timezone_get(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected the timezone 'UTC' for now, but please set date.timezone to select your timezone. in...

I setup the default timezone in my php.ini

[Date]
; Defines the default timezone used by the date functions
; http://php.net/date.timezone
date.timezone = "Europe/Paris";

To be sure that this is the good php.ini, I was checking with

phpinfo();

And the path I ma getting there is the one I am modifying:

 /usr/local/php5.5.7/lib 

But in there, I see the

Default timezone    UTC 

Which is strange.

any idea? Thank you.

Christmastide

can you confirm me the full path of the php.ini that you have changed – Pneumato

if you get this warning in symfony console then you also need to change at cli/php.ini – Pneumato

Answer 1

Maybe you are trying to set it in Apache's php.ini, but your CLI (Command Line Interface) php.ini is not good.

Find your php.ini file with the following command:

php -i | grep php.ini

And then search for date.timezone and set it to "Europe/Amsterdam". all valid timezone will be found here http://php.net/manual/en/timezones.php

Another way (if the other does not work), search for the file AppKernel.php, which should be under the folder app of your Symfony project directory. Overwrite the __construct function below in the class AppKernel:

<?php     

class AppKernel extends Kernel
{
    // Other methods and variables


    // Append this init function below

    public function __construct($environment, $debug)
    {
        date_default_timezone_set( 'Europe/Paris' );
        parent::__construct($environment, $debug);
    }

}

Pneumato

Thank you, but already checked: Loaded Configuration File => /usr/local/php5.5.7/lib/php.ini – Christmastide

there should be another configuration for cli, did you check that also? – Pneumato

Hm, and how to find this second one? – Christmastide

may I know how you have installed php5.5.7? because normally it should have been placed at etc/php5 anyway you can fix this by set default timezone at karnel class constructor. – Pneumato

I installed it from source with ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/php5.5.7 – Christmastide

Thank you for your answer. I think I know where the problem is. When restarting the php-fpm, I am restarting the old one, do you know how to restart the new php5.5.7 I installed ? – Christmastide

restarting your apache2 will suppose to restart php as well – Pneumato

i had the same problem and your another solution works with me – Astronomy

perfect, saved me lot of time! – Yamamoto

This worked great! It may be valuable to add a link to valid timezone values: php.net/manual/en/timezones.php – Belga

Thanks, I have added – Pneumato

Hi! in my case i use XAMPP on MacOS, then i do php -i and output this: Configuration File (php.ini) Path => /etc Loaded Configuration File => (none) And that's was the problem, in /etc there's no php.ini file, i've created with sudo nano /etc/php.ini and add this entry [Date] ; Defines the default timezone used by the date functions ; php.net/date.timezone date.timezone=Europe/Madrid and start working, i've tried the @Pneumato solution and work like a charm too. – Pasha

I exactly don't where is the bin/php of xampp on mac. please try to find it, should be in the directory of xampp. e.g. run DIR_XAMPP/bin/php -i – Pneumato

php --ini is a nice shortcut – Inconsiderate

Answer 2

Found a similar way to fix this issue (at least it did for me).

1. First check where the CLI php.ini is located:

   php -i | grep "php.ini"

2. In my case I ended up with : Configuration File (php.ini) Path => /etc

3. Then cd .. all the way back and cd into /etc, do ls in my case php.ini didn't show up, only a php.ini.default

4. Now, copy the php.ini.default file named as php.ini:

   sudo cp php.ini.default php.ini

5. In order to edit, change the permissions of the file:

   sudo chmod ug+w php.ini

   sudo chgrp staff php.ini

6. Open directory and edit the php.ini file:

   open .

   Tip: If you are not able to edit the php.ini due to some permissions issue then copy 'php.ini.default' and paste it on your desktop and rename it to 'php.ini' then open it and edit it following step 7. Then move (copy+paste) it in /etc folder. Issue will be resolved.

7. Search for [Date] and make sure the following line is in the correct format:

   date.timezone = "Europe/Amsterdam"

I hope this could help you out.

Individual

You just saved me a serious headache. Thank you, friend! – Gapin

Technically this should be the correct answer as it actually resolves the problem long term. – Ridglea

Answer 3

The current accepted answer by crack is deprecated in Symfony 2.3 and will be removed by 3.0. It should be moved to the constructor:

public function __construct($environment, $debug) {
    date_default_timezone_set('Europe/Warsaw');
    parent::__construct($environment, $debug);
}

Shope

Thank you for this answer. It solved my issue in version 3 – Gingham

Answer 4

Since PHP 5.5, there is a separate php.ini file for CLI interface. If You use symfony console from command line, then this specific php.ini is used.

In Ubuntu 13.10 check file:

/etc/php5/cli/php.ini

Dogleg

Answer 5

The problem appear when we are using PHP 5.1 on Redhat or Cent OS

PHP 5.1 on RHEL/CentOS doesn't support the timezone functions

Geometry

Answer 6

Following up on sas's answer, PHP 5.4, Symfony 2.8, I had to use

ini_set('date.timezone','<whatever timezone string>');

instead of date_default_timezone_set. I also added a call to ini_set to the top of a custom web/config.php to get that check to succeed.

Aqaba

Answer 7

add this code to Your AppKernel Class:

public function init()
{
    date_default_timezone_set('Asia/Tehran');
    parent::init();
}

Inherited

init is deprecated since version 2.3, to be removed in 3.0. Move your logic in the constructor instead like @Krzysztof Bociurko or the updated accepted answer. – Assume