Bug 112916

Summary: /etc/localtime symbolic link to a file outside of / filesystem => problem
Product: [Retired] Red Hat Linux Reporter: monniaux
Component: initscriptsAssignee: Bill Nottingham <notting>
Status: CLOSED WORKSFORME QA Contact: Brock Organ <borgan>
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: 9CC: rvokal
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Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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Fixed In Version: Doc Type: Bug Fix
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Last Closed: 2004-01-06 06:01:12 UTC Type: ---
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Description monniaux 2004-01-05 22:54:29 UTC
Description of problem:

If /etc/localtime is a symbolic link to a file under /usr (apparently,
some setup tools set the timezone that way) and /usr is not on /, then
hwclock in /etc/rc.sysinit is invoked when /etc/localtime points on a
non-existent file, and thus the local timezone is assumed to be UTC.

If the real timezone is NOT UTC, and the hardware clock is set in
local time, the system clock gets offset by some amount with respect
to the hardware clock.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):


How reproducible:always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.check that /etc/localtime is a symbolic link to a partition outside
/ (and thus not mounted immediately at bootup time)
2.set the local time zone to something else than UTC and the hardware
clock mode to local time
3.reboot
  
Actual results:
The system clock gets an incorrect time.

Expected results:
The system clock should get the time from the hardware clock.

Additional info:

Comment 1 Bill Nottingham 2004-01-06 06:01:12 UTC
Your system is misconfigured. /etc/localtime should be a file. There
was a redhat-config-time bug around this timeframe in that it made it
a symlink, it's since been fixed.