[Bug 772024] Re: tzdata update keeps changing my timezone

[Benjamin Drung]

** Also affects: tzdata (Ubuntu Focal)
   Importance: Undecided
       Status: New

** Also affects: tzdata (Ubuntu Jammy)
   Importance: Undecided
       Status: New

** Also affects: tzdata (Ubuntu Kinetic)
   Importance: Undecided
       Status: New

** Patch added: "tzdata_2023c-0ubuntu0.22.10.2.debdiff"
   https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/tzdata/+bug/772024/+attachment/5668931/+files/tzdata_2023c-0ubuntu0.22.10.2.debdiff

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/772024

Title:
  tzdata update keeps changing my timezone

Status in tzdata package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in tzdata source package in Focal:
  New
Status in tzdata source package in Jammy:
  New
Status in tzdata source package in Kinetic:
  New
Status in tzdata package in Debian:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  Binary package hint: tzdata

  Other than the fact that Chicago, Illinois is in US Central Timezone,
  I have no relationship to Chicago.  I am not in Chicago. I do not want
  to be in Chicago. I am in the Central Timezone. I am physically closer
  to other cities mentioned in tzdata. Selecting America/Chicago versus
  US/Central is not easier for me nor is it more intuitive.  I
  understand that the upstream tzdata package goes a long way in
  documenting all of the weirdness associated with timezones and
  different localities' treatment of timezones and daylight "savings"
  time. However, from an end-user perspective, the distribution should
  place no special importance or preference on one timezone
  specification or another. Likewise, if a user chooses a timezone, the
  system should never change it.

  To reproduce the issue:

  # Manually select US/Central
  me at ubuntu:~$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
  [sudo] password for me: 

  Current default time zone: 'US/Central'
  Local time is now:      Wed Apr 27 16:05:02 CDT 2011.
  Universal Time is now:  Wed Apr 27 21:05:02 UTC 2011.

  # Validation that selection was accepted
  me at ubuntu:~$ cat /etc/timezone
  US/Central

  me at ubuntu:~$ md5sum /etc/localtime /usr/share/zoneinfo/US/Central 
  6540624294b1193e22ed7a15692f2de7  /etc/localtime
  6540624294b1193e22ed7a15692f2de7  /usr/share/zoneinfo/US/Central

  me at ubuntu:~$ debconf-show tzdata
  debconf: DbDriver "passwords" warning: could not open /var/cache/debconf/passwords.dat: Permission denied
    tzdata/Zones/Australia:
  * tzdata/Zones/US: Central
    tzdata/Zones/Asia:
  * tzdata/Zones/Etc: UTC
    tzdata/Zones/SystemV:
    tzdata/Zones/Arctic:
    tzdata/Zones/Pacific:
    tzdata/Zones/Antarctica:
    tzdata/Zones/Europe:
    tzdata/Zones/Africa:
  * tzdata/Zones/America: Chicago
  * tzdata/Areas: US
    tzdata/Zones/Atlantic:
    tzdata/Zones/Indian:

  # Force the package to reinstall
  me at ubuntu:~$ aptitude reinstall tzdata
  The following packages will be REINSTALLED:
    tzdata 
  0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
  Need to get 0 B/658 kB of archives. After unpacking 0 B will be used.
  Preconfiguring packages ...              
  (Reading database ... 168356 files and directories currently installed.)
  Preparing to replace tzdata 2011g-0ubuntu0.11.04 (using .../tzdata_2011g-0ubuntu0.11.04_all.deb) ...
  Unpacking replacement tzdata ...
  Setting up tzdata (2011g-0ubuntu0.11.04) ...

  Current default time zone: 'America/Chicago'
  Local time is now:      Wed Apr 27 16:05:22 CDT 2011.
  Universal Time is now:  Wed Apr 27 21:05:22 UTC 2011.
  Run 'dpkg-reconfigure tzdata' if you wish to change it.

  # Now previous indicators are reset to America/Chicago instead of
  US/Central

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
  Package: tzdata 2011g-0ubuntu0.11.04
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
  Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic x86_64
  Architecture: amd64
  Date: Wed Apr 27 15:54:33 2011
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release amd64 (20101007)
  PackageArchitecture: all
  ProcEnviron:
   SHELL=/bin/bash
   PATH=(custom, user)
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   LANGUAGE=en_US:en
  SourcePackage: tzdata
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-04-10 (17 days ago)

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