[HOLD for payment 2022-05-20][$250]Timezone is wrong when using Etc/GMT - reported by @rushatgabhane

[mvtglobally]

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Action Performed:

1. Login to account “A”.
2. Go to settings -> Profile
3. Uncheck “Set my timezone automatically”
4. Select Etc/GMT+3 from the picker, and save.
5. In an incognito window, login to account “B”.
6. Go to 1:1 chat of user “A”, using Cmd + K
7. Click on their profile photo to open RHN.

Expected Result:

Local time is GMT+3

Actual Result:

Local time is GMT-3

Workaround:

unknown

Platform:

Where is this issue occurring?

• Web

Version Number: 1.1.42-0
Reproducible in staging?: Y
Reproducible in production?: Y
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers):
Logs: https://stackoverflow.com/c/expensify/questions/4856
Notes/Photos/Videos: Any additional supporting documentation

Expensify/Expensify Issue URL:
Issue reported by: @rushatgabhane
Slack conversation: https://expensify.slack.com/archives/C01GTK53T8Q/p1646934629146539

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[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @JmillsExpensify (AutoAssignerTriage), see https://stackoverflow.com/c/expensify/questions/4749 for more details.

[JmillsExpensify]

Odd one, thanks for reporting! Issue looks good. I'm triaging.

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @yuwenmemon (Engineering), see https://stackoverflow.com/c/expensify/questions/4319 for more details.

[JmillsExpensify]

@yuwenmemon To confirm, we're keeping this issue internal?

[JmillsExpensify]

Sorry for nagging @yuwenmemon :)

[yuwenmemon]

Apologies! Yes, I'd like to work on this because I haven't done much in the App repo lately.

[JmillsExpensify]

Ok great! We'll keep your assignment and I get to tag along for the ride. :)

[JmillsExpensify]

Going to leave the weekly update to @yuwenmemon this week.

[yuwenmemon]

Looks like we're dealing with a bug in the moment.js library...

[yuwenmemon]

Bug is still present in the latest version, so updating won't help...

[yuwenmemon]

Here's an issue for this in the moment-timezone lib: moment/moment-timezone#656

[yuwenmemon]

Okay, I see what's going on. This is not a bug. The +/- is not meant to be mathematical. It's actually a direction. So "GMT-4" means 4 timezones east of Greenwich (forward in time) and "GMT+4" means 4 timezones west of Greenwich (backward in time).

There's a DBA StackExchange rabbit hole one can go down here...

I think a simple solution would be to just remove all the Etc/GMT timezone options. All those timezones are already covered by the other timezones we have as options, so they're redundant anyway (and confusing).

[JmillsExpensify]

Oh ha wow. Great find.

I think a simple solution would be to just remove all the Etc/GMT timezone options. All those timezones are already covered by the other timezones we have as options, so they're redundant anyway (and confusing).

Yes agreed.

[rushatgabhane]

oh noo bad bot.

@JmillsExpensify please settle the reporting bonus for me, thanks so much!

[rushatgabhane]

@JmillsExpensify gentle bump :) #8251 (comment)

[JmillsExpensify]

@rushatgabhane invited you to the job here: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~0181eddfc7e8c9ee36. Accept and I'll issue payment. Thanks!

[rushatgabhane]

@JmillsExpensify accepted, thankss!

[JmillsExpensify]

Great! Offer sent. I'll circle back when you confirm that part and we can pay out.

[JmillsExpensify]

I saw you accepted. I just issued payment via Upwork. Closing out this issue!