2008/3/30, Gerhard Brauer <gerhard.brauer@web.de>:
Hello,
i've done a bit more testing. First i think it's not a bug in any package. It's only a mismatch between clock set on install machine and the timezone which is later set during config.
1. I guess there is absolut no problem on machines where the hardware clock is set to UTC by default.
2. If the clock is set to localtime there is a mismatch directly after booting the kernel. The time is read from bios and then the timezone is UTC per default what is a wrong time. Ex. My localtime is 13:46 (= machines hardwareclock) but this time is CEST(UTC+2) So date on the machine itself shows: Sun Mar 30 13:46 UTC 2008 but it must be Sun Mar 30 11:46 UTC 2008 or Sun Mar 30 13:46 CEST 2008
Solutions: a) set the time by hand (KISS, maybe put a hint on installation guide?) date -s "13:46 CEST" result in: Sun Mar 30 11:46 UTC 2008 which is the now correct UTC time. b) put tzdata package on ISO, so the user could use tzselect. Hint could also be given in instalation guide. Or we make it more comfortable (handholding the user) and put this as a menu in installer("Set your timezone"). The $TZ env var could then also used by the installer to initial set TIMEZONE in rc.conf as we do it with KEYMAP. As a side effect we could reduce a lot of postings in forums where users not set this correctly. But that need perhaps discussion, i feel it a little bit to handholding.
Personally i will use a) in the future. As a solution which maybe should be discussed i would prefer b), tzdata on ISO and a entry in installer menu.
What do you think? Other ideas?
Aha, it seems now I've got it. It looks like the issue silently reappeared after it was fixed - because tzdata was splitted from glibc and then not included on install CD, thus effectively making the fix useless. In my opinion a separate km-like utility is needed instead of hardcoding the fix in installer (if you see the code - you'll understand why it's ugly hack), because timezone selection should be done before any read-write mounting to avoid the issue (e.g. when using install CD to recover the system - when instaler is not run and the hardcoded fix is not working). I blame myself for failing to do this for a looong time. :-( I didn't know (or forgot) about tzselect (*facepalm*) - thanks for pointing me that. -- Roman Kyrylych (Роман Кирилич)