jerry feldman writes: > I'm attaching the java code. Run it, and see if it shows > the right time et. al. You don't need the java compiler. tried that: alioth:moylan:~/msg/2007 [1030] java Test Exception in thread "main" java.lang.ClassFormatError: Test (unrecognized class file version) eugene gorlick writes: > It seems like you have only JRE - Java Runtime > Environment, where you can run compiled java programs, > but can't compile a new ones. > You need to dowload JDK from Sun ( it includes javac )to > be able to compile programs : > http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp > You can download JDK 6u1 self-extracted archive (.bin) . > Ones files will be extracted , you'll find javac in bin > directory. did that (all 59MB of it). alioth:moylan:~/msg/2007 [1000] java Test Wed Apr 11 15:29:14 EDT 2007 alioth:moylan:~/msg/2007 [1001] date 070411:1530:00 EDT (Wednesday) nothin' funny there. after looking at man date, tried adding %z to the date format and got: alioth:moylan:~/msg/2007 [1002] date 070411:1530:40 EDT (Wednesday) -0400 ok, so what's the problem. i've been using MIME::Lite to send out messages, that's what. looked in there and modified the code to make the offset = `date "%z`. now the headers look reasonable. who would have guessed? sorry to be such a nuisance, but thanks for the inputs. dan j. daniel moylan 84 harvard ave brookline, ma 02446-6202 617-232-2360 (tel) 810-454-1823 (fax) jdm@moylan.info www.moylan.info -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.