Better way of handling the timezone

README.md

@@ -55,8 +55,13 @@ You should take this generated password and populate it in the `DB_PASS` of your
 - `DB_PASS` should be set the password as detailed above.
 - `DB_NAME` should be set to `address_book`.
 - `SITE_URL` should be set to the address from which the system will be accessible from. Typically http://localhost/ is acceptable.
-- `TZ` should be the timezone. Default is 'UTC'. (https://www.php.net/manual/en/timezones.php)
 
+5. (OPTIONAL) To define a timezone orther than the default 'Europe/London', in your `docker-compose.yml` add the following under the 'php-fpm' service:
+
+```yml
+environment:
+  - TZ=America/New_York
+```
 ### 2. Manual Installation
 
 If you wish to set up the system manually then this too can be done.
@@ -86,12 +91,34 @@ You should then set your `settings.local.inc.php` values to match your environme
 - `DB_PASS` should be set the password for the user which you created.
 - `DB_NAME` should be set to `address_book`, if you used the default set up.
 - `SITE_URL` should be the FQDN of the address of the server.
-- `TZ` should be the timezone. Default is 'UTC'. (https://www.php.net/manual/en/timezones.php)
 
 #### Web Server Configuration
 
 You should configure your web server so that the document root is set as the [html](html) directory. However, the web server user for your configuration should have access to both the [html](html/) and [includes](includes/) directories.
 
+#### Optional Configuration
+To define a timezone other than the default 'Europe/London', it varies by web server. 
+
+##### Apache
+
+In your VirtualHost definition, add the following
+```bash
+<VirtualHost localhost:80>
+   ...
+   SetEnv TZ America/New_York
+</VirtualHost>
+```
+
+##### Nginx (Untested)
+
+In your php-fpm definition, add the following
+```bash
+location / {
+    ...
+    fastcgi_param TZ America/New_York;
+}
+```
+
 ### Testing
 
 Once you have finished running one of the above methods you can then test if the system is working by visiting the address of the server in a browser.

includes/settings.config.inc.php

@@ -75,7 +75,10 @@
 	defined("PAGELINK_APIUPDATE")					?	null	:	define("PAGELINK_APIUPDATE", "update-api.php");
 
 	// Server time zone
-	date_default_timezone_set(getEnv("TZ"));
+	if ( !isset($_SERVER['TZ']) ) {
+		putenv('TZ=' . "Europe/London");
+	}
+ 	date_default_timezone_set(getenv('TZ'));
 
 	// Autoload classes so that they are called as and when they are required
 	spl_autoload_register(function($class_name) {