Upgraded to php5.3.9RC4 from 5.3.5-r1 with Default timezone America/Los_Angeles and system time same timezone old error log showed entries in local time like [28-Dec-2011 16:21:15] PHP Fatal error: require() now error log shows like [10-Jan-2012 20:34:21 UTC] PHP Warning: session_start(): Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. install php5.3.9RC4 2. set php.ini date.timezone = America/Los_Angeles 3. inspect error log entry times Actual Results: [10-Jan-2012 20:34:21 UTC] Expected Results: [10-Jan-2012 12:34:21] correct times show for both server bash date and php scripts, e.g. <?php echo date("r"); ?> returns Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:17:18 -0800 and a couple mins later from bash date returns Tue Jan 10 15:19:59 PST 2012 Found a resolved related bug upsteam from quite a while back https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=45191
Confirmed. Timezone is respected in 5.3.8, while it is not in 5.3.9 Upstream bug reported: see $URL
This was fixed around PHP 5.4.8