[Bug 1981042] Re: /etc/localtime symlink not correctly handled when using /etc/writable

[Matthieu Clemenceau]

** Tags added: foundations-todo

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1981042

Title:
  /etc/localtime symlink not correctly handled when using /etc/writable

Status in systemd package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in systemd source package in Jammy:
  Fix Committed
Status in systemd source package in Kinetic:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  [Impact]
  When using /etc/writable (e.g. Ubuntu Core) /etc/localtime is a symlink to /etc/writable/localtime (which in itself if a symlink). Systemd doesn't handle this correctly when doing firstboot or using inotify to watch for changes to localtime.

  [Test Plan]
  This is somewhat hard to test, the following situations need to be reproduced:
  - On firstboot the timezone link will not be read correctly, it will with this change.
  - Starting a timer unit and then changing timezone will cause it not to occur at the correct time.

  [Where problems could occur]
  This could potentially break other users of localtime, however the change is similar to existing changes which have been in Ubuntu's version of systemd for some time. The change detects the /etc/writable case and if not should have the same existing behaviour.

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