tzselect(8) on Solnix vs Linux and the BSDs
On Solnix, tzselect is the illumos /usr/bin/tzselect. It asks questions interactively and prints a TZ value to standard output. Unlike the Linux tzselect, the Solnix page documents no options at all, so -c, -n, --help and --version are not documented.
The manual pages
- Solnix: tzselect(8) from
pkgs.solnix.illumos-world-man· illumos.org - Linux: tzselect(8) tzdata-2026c
What Solnix runs
A default Solnix system runs the illumos tzselect at /usr/bin/tzselect. No other variants are shipped. The bundle contains no FreeBSD, OpenBSD or NetBSD tzselect page, so nothing is said about the BSDs.
Differences
| Compared with | Topic | What differs |
|---|---|---|
| Linux | no options | The Solnix page says tzselect has no options and its SYNOPSIS is just /usr/bin/tzselect. The Linux tzselect takes -c coord, -n limit, --help and --version. Scripts that pass these to tzselect will not be covered by the Solnix manual.Source: Solnix tzselect(8) SYNOPSIS, OPTIONS; Linux tzselect(8) SYNOPSIS, OPTIONS |
| Linux | selection by coordinates | Linux tzselect -c coord offers the zones whose largest cities are nearest an ISO 6709 location, and -n limit sets how many are shown (default 10). The Solnix page documents no coordinate-based selection, so the user answers the questions in order.Source: Linux tzselect(8) -c, -n; Solnix tzselect(8) OPTIONS |
| Linux | environment variables | The Linux page documents AWK (name of a POSIX-compliant awk, default awk) and TZDIR (zone data directory, default /usr/share/zoneinfo). The Solnix page has no environment section, so it does not say whether either is honoured.Source: Linux tzselect(8) ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES; Solnix tzselect(8) (no ENVIRONMENT section) |
| Linux | exit status | Both pages say 0 means a time zone was obtained. Solnix says any value above 0 means an error. Linux says nonzero. Scripts that test only for zero behave the same on both. Source: Solnix tzselect(8) EXIT STATUS; Linux tzselect(8) EXIT STATUS |
| Linux | interaction and output | Both pages say the questions go through standard input and standard error, and the resulting zone is written to standard output as a value suitable for TZ. Capturing the output with command substitution works the same way on both. Source: Solnix tzselect(8) DESCRIPTION; Linux tzselect(8) DESCRIPTION |
| Linux | related pages | The Solnix SEE ALSO lists ctime(3C), attributes(7), zdump(8) and zic(8). The Linux page lists newctime(3), tzfile(5), zdump(8) and zic(8). The Linux page also has a NOTES section saying output should not be assumed to match the user's political preferences. The Solnix page has no such note. Source: Solnix tzselect(8) SEE ALSO; Linux tzselect(8) SEE ALSO, NOTES |
Standards
- POSIX: tzselect is not a POSIX.1-2024 utility.
- Solnix: Interface Stability: Evolving.
Writing portable scripts
- Run tzselect with no arguments if the script must work on both Solnix and Linux. Only Linux documents
-c,-n,--helpand--version. - Treat only exit status 0 as success, and read the TZ value from standard output. Prompts go to standard error on both systems.
Every difference here is taken from the manual pages linked above: Solnix's published page, Linux (man-pages and the GNU and util-linux manuals), FreeBSD, OpenBSD and NetBSD. Each row names its source. Where a manual is silent, this page is too. Compiled 2026-10-26. Found a mistake? Mail hackers@lists.solnix.io.