MySQL: setting time_zone in my.cnf options file

it should be

default_time_zone=Brazil/East

details : http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/server-system-variables.html#sysvar_time_zone

Option-File Format = default_time_zone

In ~/.my.cnf:

[mysql]
init_command="SET time_zone='Brazil/East'"

For MAMP, I added default_time_zone=-03:00 under [mysqld] in /Applications/MAMP/conf/my.cnf

I would get the following error for Brazil/East, probably because its deprecated(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones):

[ERROR] Fatal error: Illegal or unknown default time zone 'Brazil/East'

I'm not certain what has changed in Xampp, but this solution only works if you place this line in the proper place. Trust me I tried many times and had to do a pretty thorough search to find this solution.

default-time-zone = "+00:00"

Example:

read_rnd_buffer_size = 512K
myisam_sort_buffer_size = 8M
default-time-zone = "+00:00" <--- Place here.
log_error = "mysql_error.log"

https://community.apachefriends.org/f/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=47656

Also, you'll want to be sure that you have your database populated with the proper time zone names if you are going to use "America/Los_Angeles". I'd recommend using the offset. I'd actually recommend using UTC as your base then converting your time from that point for users based on their timezone which will save you many headaches later and keep your database nice and uniform. Check out the guide I linked below it explained it very clearly for me and I utilized this system. There are many ways to code it but taking this approach will save you a lot of issues.

http://www.vertabelo.com/blog/technical-articles/the-proper-way-to-handle-multiple-time-zones-in-mysql