To use names like "UTC" you have to populate the timezone table, which can be done by using mysql_tzinfo_to_sql (https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/mysql_tzinfo_to_sql/).
If you haven't done it, try "default-time-zone=+00:00" instead.
> system_time_zone = CEST
How come CEST is set here if names aren't available / supported?
> 2. Could this be made the default?
^
Alice?
Named timezones are usable when they exist in your mysql database. In other cases it is 1) SYSTEM(the default, on your machine it is CEST), like
:~$ date
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Thu Sep 27 15:03:37 CEST 2018
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2) offset from UTC, such as +5:00 or -9:00.
Currently, there are no plans to change this behavior.
How does this deal with summer times? Would it be applying summer time even for dates that are in winter?
> Currently, there are no plans to change this behavior.
Could you reconsider?
UTC does not change with a change of seasons ("universal")
MariaDB stores values internally in UTC, converting them to the required time zone as required
JIRA is a bugtracker, it is not a place to seek help, please use public forums instead.
> UTC does not change with a change of seasons ("universal")
I know UTC doesn't.. I'm talking about CEST (from system) when named time zones aren't available to MariaDB.
> JIRA is a bugtracker, it is not a place to seek help, please use public forums instead.
And this is a feature request to change the default to UTC..
Ping
according to https://mariadb.com/kb/en/time-zones/ there are three ways to specify a time zone:
- a special keyword SYSTEM
- an offset from UTC, such as +5:00 or -9:00
- a named time zone, if the time zone tables were loaded
that is, if you want UTC, you can use --default-time-zone=+0:0 — this doesn't use time zone names
> an offset from UTC, such as +5:00 or -9:00
An offset isn't a time zone of course, so maybe this should be deprecated? 
> --default-time-zone=+0:0
Could this be made the default?
First, an offset is a valid timezone specification, not only in MariaDB:
$ date
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Mon Apr 5 14:00:01 CEST 2021
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$ TZ=EST date
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Mon Apr 5 07:00:05 EST 2021
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$ TZ=FOO-10:30 date
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Mon Apr 5 22:30:10 FOO 2021
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See, the last one specifies a fictional timezone called "FOO" with the UTC offset of 10:30
Second, I doubt we can make UTC a default, it'll break applications for majority of our users
> First, an offset is a valid timezone specification, not only in MariaDB:
Sure, but any (real) time zone with DST can't be specified with just an offset, can it?
> Second, I doubt we can make UTC a default, it'll break applications for majority of our users
The majority of users depend on the default time zone being system? Hmm...
Could the "default-time-zone=+0:0" setting be included as a comment in the stock conf then?
A real time zone without DST can, but I understand, you mean that DST cannot be specified that way. You're right.
Yes, I think it could be. But practically, based on our feedback data, less than 0.2% of users change the default time zone from SYSTEM. So it's likely do more harm (confusion) than good (help).
> But practically, based on our feedback data, less than 0.2% of users change the default time zone from SYSTEM.
I've seen code adjusting times from UTC to local before sending it to the DB and from local to UTC after...
Maybe I just don't properly understand time zone handling in the DB, but I doubt I'm the only one.
> So it's likely do more harm (confusion) than good (help).
Why would "default-time-zone=+0:0" as a comment be confusing?
Explicitly setting default-time-zone=system in the conf would be good too, as IMO it's a non-obvious default.