>How to change the system Timezone? I'm stuck in PDT, date has no effect,
>'zic' doesn't exist except in a man page.

Everything you need is in /usr/src/share/zoneinfo.  Edit the Makefile
in that directory to reflect your local timezone.  Then make && make
install.  Copy the posixrules file to /etc/localtime, and you're
done.  You may need to restart running processes (e.g. xclock) before
they will show the correct time.

The problem that causes zic not to be built has been fixed in
-current.

>How to change/disable the message printed BEFORE login? Most sysV related
>systems have a /etc/issue file that contains the information to be printed
>before a login prompt. I just want to turn it off.

The message comes from the default: entry in /etc/gettytab.
-- 
Mike Long <mike.long@analog.com>           http://www.shore.net/~mikel
VLSI Design Engineer         finger mikel@shore.net for PGP public key
Analog Devices, CPD Division          CCBF225E7D3F7ECB2C8F7ABB15D9BE7B
Norwood, MA 02062 USA                assert(*this!=opinionof(Analog));