question about GMT and UTC

Hello,

I need a timezone to store timestamps in that is independent of daylight saving. From everything I've read, it seems I want either GMT or UTC. The only problem is I can't figure out from any documentation I've read if there is any difference (practically speaking, not scientifically and taking into account the earth's orbit etc).

I can set my server timezone to GMT, but if I want UTC I will have to use putenv('TZ=UTC'). Could someone please confirm if they are in fact the same or if one is better, and if I am correct in stating that neither is affected by daylight saving? Lastly, if I set my server to GMT (or UTC for that matter), am I also correct in saying that in that case gmmktime() and gmdate() are the exact same as mktime() and date()? Thank you very much in advance for your help.
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