Issues with Mongo and Timezones (with Mongoid or MongoMapper gems)

database.mongo.yml

defaults: &defaults
  adapter: mongo
  host: localhost

test:
  <<: *defaults
  database: accounting

development:
  <<: *defaults
  database: accounting
#  username: development
#  password: test

production:
  <<: *defaults
  host: db.mongohq.com
  username: amasses
  password: **********
  database: accounting

help_file.rb

class HelpFile
  include Mongoid::Document

  field :title, :type => String
  field :excerpt, :type => String
  field :content, :type => String
  field :is_published, :type => Boolean

  field :publish_date, :type => Time
  before_save :set_publish_date, :ensure_excerpt

  key :title

  validates_presence_of :title, :content

  protected
  def ensure_excerpt
    self.excerpt = "#{self.content[0..200]}..." if self.excerpt.nil?
  end

  # Update the updated_at field on the Document to the current time.
  # This is only called on create and on save.
  def set_publish_date
    self.publish_date = Time.now.utc
  end

  def tag_list
    []
  end
end

help_file_spec.rb

require File.expand_path(File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../spec_helper')

describe HelpFile do
  before(:each) do
    @valid_attributes = {
      :title => "this is a sample help file",
      :content => "Monkeys shouldn't wear pajamas, but they look damn funny when they do!",
      :is_published => false,
      :publish_date => Time.now.utc
    }
  end

  it "should create a new instance given valid attributes" do
    HelpFile.create!(@valid_attributes)
  end

  it "should retrieve the date and be within 1 mintue" do
    h = HelpFile.create!(@valid_attributes)
    
    h.publish_date.should be_close(Time.now.utc, 1.minute)
  end
end

IRB Session

>> x = HelpFile.create(:title => "Test help file", :content => "Hello world!", :is_published => true, :publish_date => Time.now.utc)
=> #<HelpFile _id: test-help-file, title: Test help file, excerpt: Hello world!..., is_published: true, content: Hello world!, publish_date: 28/02/2010>
>> x.publish_date
ArgumentError: invalid date
	from /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/date.rb:1573:in `new_by_frags'
	from /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/date.rb:1618:in `parse'
	from /Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.3.3/lib/active_support/values/time_zone.rb:246:in `parse'
	from /Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/mongoid-0.10.6/lib/mongoid/extensions/time/conversions.rb:12:in `get'
	from /Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/mongoid-0.10.6/lib/mongoid/field.rb:35:in `get'
	from /Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/mongoid-0.10.6/lib/mongoid/attributes.rb:32:in `read_attribute'
	from /Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/mongoid-0.10.6/lib/mongoid/document.rb:122:in `publish_date'
	from (irb):2
>> Time.zone
=> #<ActiveSupport::TimeZone:0x10332f150 @utc_offset=36000, @name="Canberra", @tzinfo=nil>
>> 

Mongo Session

> use accounting
switched to db accounting
> db.help_files.find()
{ "_id" : "test-help-file", "title" : "Test help file", "excerpt" : "Hello world!...", "is_published" : true, "content" : "Hello world!", "publish_date" : "Mon Mar 01 2010 00:00:00 GMT+1100 (EST)" }
> 

mongo_db.rb

File.open(File.join(RAILS_ROOT, 'config/database.mongo.yml'), 'r') do |f|
  @settings = YAML.load(f)[RAILS_ENV]
end
connection = Mongo::Connection.new(@settings["host"])
Mongoid.database = connection.db(@settings["database"])
if @settings["username"]
  Mongoid.database.authenticate(@settings["username"], @settings["password"])
end

Spec session

Broc:accounting-app Broc$ spec spec/models/help_file_spec.rb 
.F

1)
ArgumentError in 'HelpFile should retrieve the date and be within 1 mintue'
invalid date
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.3.3/lib/active_support/values/time_zone.rb:246:in `parse'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/mongoid-0.10.6/lib/mongoid/extensions/time/conversions.rb:12:in `get'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/mongoid-0.10.6/lib/mongoid/field.rb:35:in `get'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/mongoid-0.10.6/lib/mongoid/attributes.rb:32:in `read_attribute'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/mongoid-0.10.6/lib/mongoid/document.rb:122:in `publish_date'
./spec/models/help_file_spec.rb:20:

Finished in 0.459463 seconds

2 examples, 1 failure
Broc:accounting-app Broc$ 

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