--- loncom/localize/lonlocal.pm	2009/04/16 15:51:42	1.57
+++ loncom/localize/lonlocal.pm	2010/07/07 16:30:48	1.61
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # The LearningOnline Network with CAPA
 # Localization routines
 #
-# $Id: lonlocal.pm,v 1.57 2009/04/16 15:51:42 www Exp $
+# $Id: lonlocal.pm,v 1.61 2010/07/07 16:30:48 raeburn Exp $
 #
 # Copyright Michigan State University Board of Trustees
 #
@@ -262,8 +262,8 @@ sub preferred_languages {
         push(@languages,@browser);
     }
 
-    foreach my $domtype ($Apache::lonnet::env{'user.domain'},$Apache::lonnet::env{'request.role.domain'},
-                         $Apache::lonnet::perlvar{'lonDefDomain'}) {
+    my $defdom = &Apache::lonnet::default_login_domain();
+    foreach my $domtype ($Apache::lonnet::env{'user.domain'},$Apache::lonnet::env{'request.role.domain'},$defdom) {
         if ($domtype ne '') {
             my %domdefs = &Apache::lonnet::get_domain_defaults($domtype);
             if ($domdefs{'lang_def'} ne '') {
@@ -295,13 +295,12 @@ sub get_genlanguages {
 
 sub current_encoding {
     my $default='UTF-8';
-# UTF-8 character encoding needed for the whole LON-CAPA system
-# (interface language and homework problem content)
-# See Bugzilla 5702 vs. 2189 and 4067
-#    if ($Apache::lonnet::env{'browser.os'} eq 'win' && 
-#	$Apache::lonnet::env{'browser.type'} eq 'explorer') {
-#        $default='ISO-8859-1';
-#    }
+    unless ($Apache::lonnet::env{'browser.unicode'}) {
+        if ($Apache::lonnet::env{'browser.os'} eq 'win' && 
+	    $Apache::lonnet::env{'browser.type'} eq 'explorer') {
+            $default='ISO-8859-1';
+        }
+    }
     if ($lh) {
 	my $enc=$lh->maketext('char_encoding');
 	return ($enc eq 'char_encoding'?$default:$enc);
@@ -395,6 +394,7 @@ sub gettimezone {
 
 sub locallocaltime {
     my ($thistime,$timezone) = @_;
+
     if (!defined($thistime) || $thistime eq '') {
 	return &mt('Never');
     }
@@ -408,7 +408,16 @@ sub locallocaltime {
     }
 
     my $dt = DateTime->from_epoch(epoch => $thistime)
-                     ->set_time_zone(&gettimezone($timezone));
+                     ->set_time_zone(gettimezone($timezone));
+
+    # TimeZone tries to determine the 'local' timezone from $ENV{TZ} if this
+    # fails it searches through various system files. Under certain
+    # circumstances this is an extremly expensive operation.
+    # So after the first run we store the timezone in $ENV{TZ} to significantly
+    # speed up future lookups. 
+    $ENV{TZ} = $dt->time_zone()->name() 
+        if (! $ENV{TZ} && gettimezone($timezone) eq 'local');
+
     if ((&current_language=~/^en/) || (!$lh)) {
 
 	return $dt->strftime("%a %b %e %I:%M:%S %P %Y (%Z)");