diff --git a/src/server.c b/src/server.c
index d6c6dc3a..f92a75b5 100644
--- a/src/server.c
+++ b/src/server.c
@@ -1526,7 +1526,7 @@ void initServerConfig(void) {
     server.runid[CONFIG_RUN_ID_SIZE] = '\0';
     changeReplicationId();
     clearReplicationId2();
-    server.timezone = timezone; /* Initialized by tzset(). */
+    server.timezone = getTimeZone(); /* Initialized by tzset(). */
     server.configfile = NULL;
     server.executable = NULL;
     server.config_hz = CONFIG_DEFAULT_HZ;
diff --git a/src/util.c b/src/util.c
index 3fa6c924..c2d32df8 100644
--- a/src/util.c
+++ b/src/util.c
@@ -652,6 +652,24 @@ sds getAbsolutePath(char *filename) {
     return abspath;
 }
 
+/*
+ * Gets the proper timezone in a more portable fashion
+ * i.e timezone variables are linux specific.
+ */
+
+unsigned long getTimeZone(void) {
+#ifdef __linux__
+    return timezone;
+#else
+    struct timeval tv;
+    struct timezone tz;
+
+    gettimeofday(&tv, &tz);
+
+    return tz.tz_minuteswest * 60UL;
+#endif
+}
+
 /* Return true if the specified path is just a file basename without any
  * relative or absolute path. This function just checks that no / or \
  * character exists inside the specified path, that's enough in the
diff --git a/src/util.h b/src/util.h
index 91acde04..cc154d96 100644
--- a/src/util.h
+++ b/src/util.h
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ int string2ld(const char *s, size_t slen, long double *dp);
 int d2string(char *buf, size_t len, double value);
 int ld2string(char *buf, size_t len, long double value, int humanfriendly);
 sds getAbsolutePath(char *filename);
+unsigned long getTimeZone(void);
 int pathIsBaseName(char *path);
 
 #ifdef REDIS_TEST