From 908ededbcc597b7ced3fe03932ff3a8b4d44b58e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Thomas von Dein <tom@vondein.org>
Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2025 21:22:07 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] make reference time configurable

---
 cmd/config.go | 18 +++++++++++++++---
 cmd/times.go  |  3 ++-
 2 files changed, 17 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/cmd/config.go b/cmd/config.go
index 7bb6e66..80ab7c8 100644
--- a/cmd/config.go
+++ b/cmd/config.go
@@ -98,8 +98,8 @@ type Config struct {
 	Mode        int
 
 	// internal flags for [unit] tests
-	tz      string
-	refTime time.Time
+	tz      string    // has to be set directly in code
+	refTime time.Time // must be set via env var $TSREFTIME
 }
 
 func InitConfig(output io.Writer) (*Config, error) {
@@ -134,11 +134,23 @@ func InitConfig(output io.Writer) (*Config, error) {
 	}
 
 	// fetch values
-	conf := &Config{Output: output}
+	conf := &Config{Output: output, refTime: time.Now()}
 	if err := kloader.Unmarshal("", &conf); err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error unmarshalling: %w", err)
 	}
 
+	// check internal env var[s], if any
+	reftime, present := os.LookupEnv("TSREFTIME")
+	if present {
+		// e.g: 2014-01-03T00:00:00+01:00
+		ts, err := time.Parse(time.RFC3339Nano, reftime)
+		if err != nil {
+			os.Exit(Die("failed to set reference time from $TSREFTIME", err))
+		}
+
+		conf.refTime = ts
+	}
+
 	// want examples?
 	if conf.Examples {
 		_, err := fmt.Fprintln(output, Examples)
diff --git a/cmd/times.go b/cmd/times.go
index f4b6c57..13cf7bd 100644
--- a/cmd/times.go
+++ b/cmd/times.go
@@ -45,9 +45,10 @@ func NewTP(conf *Config, ref ...time.Time) *TimestampProccessor {
 
 	modnow.TimeFormats = append(modnow.TimeFormats, formats...)
 
-	tp := &TimestampProccessor{Config: *conf, Reference: time.Now()}
+	tp := &TimestampProccessor{Config: *conf, Reference: conf.refTime}
 
 	if len(ref) == 1 {
+		// overwritten externally by unit test
 		tp.Reference = ref[0]
 	}