Bug#1087379: systemd: /etc/timezone not updated by timedatectl

[Luca Boccassi]

Control: tags -1 wontfix
Control: close -1

On Tue, 12 Nov 2024 14:16:54 +0000 =?iso-8859-
1?Q?Thomas_Lorblanch=E8s?= <zlika_ese at hotmail.com> wrote:
> Package: systemd
> X-Debbugs-Cc: zlika_ese at hotmail.com
> Version: 252.31-1~deb12u1
> Severity: normal
> 
> Dear Maintainer,
> 
> "timedatectl set-timezone" does not update the /etc/timezone file
since systemd 252.6-1 (cf.
https://tracker.debian.org/news/1424576/accepted-systemd-2526-1-source-into-unstable/
). However, this file still exists on a normal Debian 12 installation,
and is used by some software. For example, openjdk still uses
/etc/timezone if the file exists, and only uses /etc/localtime if the
previous file does not exist (cf.
https://github.com/openjdk/jdk/blob/master/src/java.base/unix/native/libjava/TimeZone_md.c
).
> Setting the timezone with "timedatectl set-timezone" (or using the
Ansible "timezone" command, which also uses timedatectl) leads to
inconsistent values for /etc/timezone and /etc/localtime. As long as
the /etc/timezone file exists it should be updated by timedatectl to
avoid problems with other software (like openjdk) that may use this
file if it exists.

Sorry, but as mentioned in the changelog, this is not supported anymore
since Bookworm, please fix those installations to drop that file
instead.