diff --git a/type/__timezone/explorer/timezone_is b/type/__timezone/explorer/timezone_is
deleted file mode 100755
index 6f72a9248..000000000
--- a/type/__timezone/explorer/timezone_is
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,25 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh -e
-#
-# 2017 Ander Punnar (ander at kvlt.ee)
-#
-# This file is part of skonfig-base.
-#
-# skonfig-base is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
-# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
-# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
-# (at your option) any later version.
-#
-# skonfig-base is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
-# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
-# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
-# GNU General Public License for more details.
-#
-# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
-# along with skonfig-base. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
-#
-# Prints the contents of /etc/timezone.
-#
-
-[ -f /etc/timezone ] && cat /etc/timezone
-
-exit 0
diff --git a/type/__timezone/explorer/zoneinfo_file b/type/__timezone/explorer/zoneinfo_file
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..e8990774f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/type/__timezone/explorer/zoneinfo_file
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+#!/bin/sh -e
+#
+# 2020 Dennis Camera (dennis.camera at riiengineering.ch)
+#
+# This file is part of skonfig-base.
+#
+# skonfig-base is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# skonfig-base is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with skonfig-base. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+#
+# Determine and print the path of the --tz zoneinfo file.
+# If the zone is invalid, the explorer produces empty output.
+#
+
+TZ=$(cat "${__object:?}/parameter/tz")
+
+if test -s "${__object:?}/parameter/tzdir"
+then
+	TZDIR=$(cat "${__object:?}/parameter/tzdir")
+
+	test -d "${TZDIR}" || {
+		printf 'Invalid --tzdir: no such directory: %s\n' "${TZDIR}" >&2
+		exit 1
+	}
+else
+	case $(uname -s)
+	in
+		(Darwin)
+			TZDIR=/var/db/timezone/zoneinfo
+			;;
+		(SunOS)
+			TZDIR=/usr/share/lib/zoneinfo
+			;;
+		(*)
+			# According to glibc's tzfile(5) there are two typical directories:
+			if test -d /usr/share/zoneinfo
+			then
+				# Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD. And others?
+				TZDIR=/usr/share/zoneinfo
+			elif test -d /usr/lib/zoneinfo
+			then
+				# Old libc4, libc5 apparently.
+				TZDIR=/usr/lib/zoneinfo
+			fi
+			;;
+	esac
+fi
+
+if test -n "${TZDIR-}" && test -e "${TZDIR}/${TZ}"
+then
+	echo "${TZDIR}/${TZ}"
+fi
diff --git a/type/__timezone/gencode-remote b/type/__timezone/gencode-remote
deleted file mode 100755
index a3101122d..000000000
--- a/type/__timezone/gencode-remote
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,36 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh -e
-#
-# 2012 Steven Armstrong (steven-cdist at armstrong.cc)
-# 2019 Nico Schottelius (nico-cdist at schottelius.org)
-#
-# This file is part of skonfig-base.
-#
-# skonfig-base is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
-# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
-# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
-# (at your option) any later version.
-#
-# skonfig-base is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
-# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
-# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
-# GNU General Public License for more details.
-#
-# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
-# along with skonfig-base. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
-#
-
-timezone_is=$(cat "${__object:?}/explorer/timezone_is")
-timezone_should=$(cat "${__object:?}/parameter/tz")
-os=$(cat "${__global:?}/explorer/os")
-
-if [ "${timezone_is}" = "${timezone_should}" ]
-then
-    exit 0
-fi
-
-case ${os}
-in
-    (ubuntu|debian|devuan|coreos|alpine)
-        echo "echo \"${timezone_should}\" >/etc/timezone"
-        ;;
-esac
diff --git a/type/__timezone/man.rst b/type/__timezone/man.rst
index 801671d1a..b4106ad37 100644
--- a/type/__timezone/man.rst
+++ b/type/__timezone/man.rst
@@ -3,13 +3,18 @@ cdist-type__timezone(7)
 
 NAME
 ----
-cdist-type__timezone - Allows one to configure the desired localtime timezone.
+cdist-type__timezone - Configure the system timezone.
 
 
 DESCRIPTION
 -----------
-This type creates a symlink (/etc/localtime) to the selected timezone
-(which should be available in /usr/share/zoneinfo).
+This type creates a symlink (``/etc/localtime``) to the selected
+timezone (which should be available in ``--tzdir`` which is usually
+``/usr/share/zoneinfo``).
+
+On some operating systems, other system-specific files are modified as well.
+
+If necessary, the zoneinfo database (``tzdata``) will be installed on the target.
 
 
 REQUIRED PARAMETERS
@@ -17,6 +22,16 @@ REQUIRED PARAMETERS
 tz
    The name of the timezone to set.
 
+   It should map to a file present in ``--tzdir``.
+
+
+OPTIONAL PARAMETERS
+-------------------
+tzdir
+   The directory containing the timezone data files on the target.
+
+   Default: detected based on OS, usually ``/usr/share/zoneinfo``.
+
 
 EXAMPLES
 --------
@@ -29,6 +44,12 @@ EXAMPLES
    # Set up US/Central as our timezone.
    __timezone --tz US/Central
 
+   # Some operating systems (e.g. Debian, RedHat, SuSE) have a separate
+   # directory for POSIX timezones (time values interpreted as seconds since
+   # the epoch, not counting leap seconds).
+   # It can be used by manually specifying the TZDIR.
+   __timezone --tz Europe/Vaduz --tzdir /usr/share/zoneinfo/posix
+
 
 AUTHORS
 -------
@@ -40,7 +61,7 @@ AUTHORS
 
 COPYING
 -------
-Copyright \(C) 2012-2020 the `AUTHORS`_.
+Copyright \(C) 2012-2025 the `AUTHORS`_.
 You can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
 Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of
 the License, or (at your option) any later version.
diff --git a/type/__timezone/manifest b/type/__timezone/manifest
index 05bd90375..7322cfd3e 100755
--- a/type/__timezone/manifest
+++ b/type/__timezone/manifest
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 # 2011 Ramon Salvadó (rsalvado at gnuine.com)
 # 2012-2015 Steven Armstrong (steven-cdist at armstrong.cc)
 # 2012-2019 Nico Schottelius (nico-cdist at schottelius.org)
+# 2020,2025 Dennis Camera (dennis.camera at riiengineering.ch)
 #
 # This file is part of skonfig-base.
 #
@@ -20,47 +21,173 @@
 # along with skonfig-base. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 #
 
-timezone=$(cat "${__object:?}/parameter/tz")
+TZ=$(cat "${__object:?}/parameter/tz")
 os=$(cat "${__global:?}/explorer/os")
+localtime_file=/etc/localtime
+zoneinfo_file=$(cat "${__object:?}/explorer/zoneinfo_file")
 
+canonicalize_path() {
+	# NOTE: Only works for absolute paths
+	# shellcheck disable=SC2016
+	printf '%s\n' "${1:?}" \
+	| tr '/' '\n' \
+	| sed -n -e '
+	    # ignore empty lines (produced by // in original path and leading /)
+	    /^$/bq
+		# ignore /./ components
+	    /^\.$/bq
+		# drop a component from the "stack" if a .. is met
+	    /^\.\.$/{
+	      # delete last line from hold space
+	      x
+	      s/^\(.*\)\n.*$/\1/
+	      x
+	      bq
+	    }
+	    # push component to "stack" (append to hold space)
+	    H
+	    :q
+	    # print stack contents (hold space) at the end
+	    ${x;p;}' \
+	| sed -n -e 'H;${g;s/^\n//;s/\n/\//g;p;}'
+}
+
+count_path_components() (
+	components=$(canonicalize_path "$1")
+	IFS=/
+	# shellcheck disable=SC2048,SC2086
+	set -f -- ${components#/}
+	echo $#
+)
+
+backdirs() {
+	test "${1:-0}" -gt 0 || { printf './\n'; return 0; }
+	until test "${1:-0}" -le 0
+	do
+		printf '../'
+		set -- $(($1 - 1))
+	done
+	printf '\n'
+}
+
+invalid_timezone() {
+	# NOTE: When the tzdata package was just installed, this might produce an
+	# invalid timezone error because the explorer has been run before the
+	# installation.
+	printf 'Invalid timezone: %s\n' "${TZ}" >&2
+	exit 1
+}
+
+# some OSes require a timezone package to be installed first
+case ${os}
+in
+	(adelie|alpine|archlinux|debian|devuan|ubuntu|centos|redhat|scientific|voidlinux)
+		__package tzdata
+		export require=__package/tzdata
+		;;
+	(gentoo)
+		__package sys-libs/timezone-data
+		export require=__package/sys-libs/timezone-data
+		;;
+	(suse)
+		__package timezone
+		export require=__package/timezone
+		;;
+	(slackware)
+		__package glibc-zoneinfo
+		export require=__package/glibc-zoneinfo
+		;;
+esac
+
+# configure the timezone
 case ${os}
 in
-    (archlinux|debian|ubuntu|devuan|alpine)
-        __package tzdata
-        export require='__package/tzdata'
-        ;;
-    (suse)
-        __package timezone
-        export require='__package/timezone'
-        ;;
-    (freebsd|netbsd|openbsd)
-        # whitelist
-        :
-        ;;
-    (coreos)
-        # whitelist
-        :
-        ;;
-    (scientific|centos)
-        __package tzdata --state present
-        export require='__package/tzdata'
-        __file /etc/sysconfig/clock \
-            --owner root --group root --mode 644 \
-            --state exists
-        require='__file/etc/sysconfig/clock' \
-            __key_value ZONE \
-                --file /etc/sysconfig/clock \
-                --delimiter '=' \
-                --value "\"${timezone}\""
-        ;;
-    (*)
-        : "${__type:?}"  # make shellcheck happy
-        echo "Your operating system (${os}) is currently not supported by this type (${__type##*/})." >&2
-        echo 'Please contribute an implementation for it if you can.' >&2
-        exit 1
-        ;;
+	(adelie|alpine|slackware)
+		test -n "${zoneinfo_file}" || invalid_timezone
+		;;
+	(coreos|debian|devuan|ubuntu)
+		test -n "${zoneinfo_file}" || invalid_timezone
+
+		__file /etc/timezone \
+			--owner 0 --group 0 --mode 0644 \
+			--source - <<-EOF
+		${TZ}
+		EOF
+		;;
+	(centos|redhat|scientific)
+		test -n "${zoneinfo_file}" || invalid_timezone
+
+		__file /etc/sysconfig/clock \
+			--state exists \
+			--owner 0 --group 0 --mode 0644
+		require=__file/etc/sysconfig/clock \
+		__key_value /etc/sysconfig/clock:ZONE \
+			--file /etc/sysconfig/clock \
+			--delimiter '=' --exact_delimiter \
+			--key 'ZONE' \
+			--value "\"${TZ}\""
+		;;
+	(gentoo)
+		test -n "${zoneinfo_file}" || invalid_timezone
+
+		# XXX: systemd?
+
+		__file /etc/timezone \
+			--owner 0 --group 0 --mode 0644 \
+			--source - <<-EOF
+		${TZ}
+		EOF
+
+		# XXX: Should /etc/TZ be updated??
+		__file /etc/TZ \
+			--owner 0 --group 0 --mode 0644 \
+			--source - <<-EOF
+		${TZ}
+		EOF
+		;;
+	(freebsd)
+		test -n "${zoneinfo_file}" || invalid_timezone
+
+		__file /var/db/zoneinfo \
+			--owner 0 --group 0 --mode 0644 \
+			--source - <<-EOF
+		${TZ}
+		EOF
+		;;
+	(suse)
+		os_version=$(cat "${__global:?}/explorer/os_version")
+		os_major=${os_version%%[!0-9]*}
+
+		# TODO: Consider using `yast2 timezone ...` instead
+		if test $((os_major)) -lt 15 || test $((os_major)) -eq 42
+		then
+			# It seems that starting with SuSE 15 /etc/sysconfig/clock is
+			# abandoned.  The file still exists but only contains a
+			# DEFAULT_TIMEZONE entry.
+			__key_value /etc/sysconfig/clock:TIMEZONE \
+				--file /etc/sysconfig/clock \
+				--delimiter '=' --exact_delimiter \
+				--key TIMEZONE --value "\"${TZ}\""
+		fi
+		;;
+	(voidlinux)
+		test -n "${zoneinfo_file}" || invalid_timezone
+
+		__key_value /etc/rc.conf:TIMEZONE \
+			--file /etc/rc.conf \
+			--key TIMEZONE \
+			--delimiter '=' --exact_delimiter \
+			--value "\"${TZ}\""
+		;;
+	(*)
+		: "${__type:?}"  # make shellcheck happy
+		echo "Your operating system (${os}) is currently not supported by this type (${__type##*/})." >&2
+		echo 'Please contribute an implementation for it if you can.' >&2
+		exit 1
+		;;
 esac
 
-__link /etc/localtime \
-    --source "/usr/share/zoneinfo/${timezone}" \
-    --type symbolic
+rel_zoneinfo_file="$(backdirs "$(count_path_components "${localtime_file%/*}")")${zoneinfo_file#/}"
+__link "${localtime_file}" \
+	--type symbolic \
+	--source "${rel_zoneinfo_file}"
diff --git a/type/__timezone/parameter/optional b/type/__timezone/parameter/optional
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d0719869f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/type/__timezone/parameter/optional
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+tzdir