Guest users not using configured America/Los_Angeles (PST) timezone Community Edition

[swoonai]

Guest users not using configured America/Los_Angeles (PST) timezone

I’ve configured HumHub to force the application and database timezone to PST (America/Los_Angeles), but guest users are still shown content in UTC instead of the configured timezone. Logged-in users work correctly.

---

Steps to reproduce

1. Enable timezone configuration in common.php:

'formatter' => [
    'timeZone' => 'America/Los_Angeles',
    'defaultTimeZone' => 'America/Los_Angeles',
],
'db' => [
    'class' => yii\db\Connection::class,
    'on afterOpen' => function ($event) {
        // Dynamic MySQL offset for America/Los_Angeles
        $phpTzId = 'America/Los_Angeles';
        $tz      = new DateTimeZone($phpTzId);
        $now     = new DateTime('now', $tz);
        $offset  = $tz->getOffset($now);
        $sign    = $offset >= 0 ? '+' : '-';
        $offset  = abs($offset);
        $hours   = floor($offset / 3600);
        $minutes = floor(($offset % 3600) / 60);
        $mysqlOffset = sprintf('%s%02d:%02d', $sign, $hours, $minutes);

        $event->sender
            ->createCommand("SET time_zone = :tz")
            ->bindValue(':tz', $mysqlOffset)
            ->execute();
    },
],

2. Enable guest access in config:

'params' => [
    'allowGuestAccess' => true,
],
'on beforeRequest' => function () {
    Yii::$app->params['allowGuestAccess'] = true;
},

3. Visit the site as a guest (not logged in).

---

Expected behavior

All timestamps (posts, comments, activity stream, etc.) should display in America/Los_Angeles (PST/PDT) for guest users, consistent with logged-in users.

Actual behavior

Guest users still see UTC timestamps. Logged-in users respect the America/Los_Angeles timezone as expected.

---

Environment

• HumHub version: 1.16.4
• PHP version: 8.2.x
• MySQL version: 8.0.x
• OS: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

---

Additional context

• I verified that MySQL session time_zone is correctly set via SET time_zone on connection.
• The Yii formatter is configured to America/Los_Angeles.
• Issue only affects guest users.

Related: humhub/humhub#4871

---

Verification snippet

To confirm DB session timezone is applied correctly, I added this check:

$result = Yii::$app->db->createCommand("SELECT @@session.time_zone")->queryScalar();
Yii::warning("MySQL session timezone = " . $result, 'db-timezone');

Output in logs shows the correct offset (e.g. -07:00 for PDT), but guest pages still render in UTC.

[luke-]

Can you please try with latest stable HumHub version?

[swoonai]

Okay, I will upgrade. Give me a few. Refresh screen as my formatting was off please.

[swoonai]

Timezone Issue for Guest Users

Update / Additional Findings

I’ve done further testing on this timezone problem:

• If I set the application timezone to America/Los_Angeles in common.php and in the Admin UI, guest users still see UTC timestamps.
• If I leave the server/app timezone as UTC, logged-in users correctly see their profile/default timezone (Los Angeles), but logged-out (guest) users still see UTC.

So effectively:

• Logged-in users → respect the configured timezone correctly.
• Guest users → always fall back to UTC, regardless of the application timezone setting.

---

What I’ve Done

• Verified that PHP CLI + FPM both have date.timezone = America/Los_Angeles.

• Verified Yii formatter in common.php has:

  'formatter' => [
      'defaultTimeZone' => 'UTC',
      'timeZone' => 'America/Los_Angeles',
  ],

• Verified MySQL session time_zone is set via afterOpen event to +00:00 (UTC).

• Added an on beforeRequest hook to enforce Yii::$app->timeZone = 'America/Los_Angeles' for every request (so guests are covered).

Despite these measures, guests are still shown UTC timestamps.

---

Environment

• HumHub version: 1.17.3
• PHP version: 8.3.16 (FPM + CLI, both set to America/Los_Angeles)
• MySQL version: 8.0.x (session time_zone = +00:00)
• OS: Debian 11 (5.10 kernel)

---

Expected Behavior

Guest users should see timestamps in the configured default timezone (America/Los_Angeles), the same way logged-in users do.

Actual Behavior

Guest users always see UTC timestamps. Logged-in users display correctly.

---

[swoonai]

I've updated to the latest version. Still same issue. Let me know what I can provide you.

[yurabakhtin]

@swoonai @luke- My file protected/config/common.php:

return [
    'components' => [
        'formatter' => [
            'timeZone' => 'America/Los_Angeles',
            'defaultTimeZone' => 'America/Los_Angeles',
        ],
        'db' => [
            'class' => \yii\db\Connection::class,
            'on afterOpen' => function ($event) {
                /* set sql_mode only for mysql */
                if ($event->sender->driverName == 'mysql') {
                    try {
                        $event->sender->createCommand('SET SESSION sql_mode=""; SET SESSION sql_mode="NO_ENGINE_SUBSTITUTION"')->execute();
                    } catch (\Exception $ex) {
                        Yii::error('Could not switch SQL mode: ' . $ex->getMessage());
                    }
                }

                // Dynamic MySQL offset for America/Los_Angeles
                $phpTzId = 'America/Los_Angeles';
                $tz      = new DateTimeZone($phpTzId);
                $now     = new DateTime('now', $tz);
                $offset  = $tz->getOffset($now);
                $sign    = $offset >= 0 ? '+' : '-';
                $offset  = abs($offset);
                $hours   = floor($offset / 3600);
                $minutes = floor(($offset % 3600) / 60);
                $mysqlOffset = sprintf('%s%02d:%02d', $sign, $hours, $minutes);

                $event->sender
                    ->createCommand("SET time_zone = :tz")
                    ->bindValue(':tz', $mysqlOffset)
                    ->execute();
            },
        ],
    ],
    'params' => [
        'allowGuestAccess' => true,
    ],
    'on beforeRequest' => function () {
        Yii::$app->params['allowGuestAccess'] = true;
    },
];

1) User / Berlin

2) User / Los Angeles

3) Guest

Do you see the time is wrong on guest mode?