How to figure out which, if any, update changed /etc/localtime from a link to a hard file?

[David M. Karr]

NoOp wrote:
> On 04/16/2009 10:29 PM, David M. Karr wrote:
>> Brian McKee wrote:
>>> On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 5:24 PM, David M. Karr
>>> <davidmichaelkarr at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> So, I had recently discovered a bug with Java not using the correct date
>>>> ranges for DST.  What I've determined is that Java requires
>>>> /etc/localtime to be a symlink, not a hard file.  When I replaced the
>>>> hard file with a link to the correct file, it fixed my problem.
>>>>
>>>> Now, what I'd like to find out is how and when /etc/localtime became a
>>>> hard file.
>>>>
>>>> I have no idea whether the original Ubuntu 8.10 installation was in this
>>>> state or not.  It could have happened when I installed one of the many
>>>> updates that come through.
>>>>
>>>> is there any way to search through the list of updates that I've
>>>> installed to see whether any of them would have done this?
>>> Huh.  I thought java had it's own tzdata stuff and didn't use the
>>> system.  Perhaps that's changed.
>>>
>>> I'm guessing the packages you are referring to are tzdata and
>>> tzdata-java,  but I would have thought breaking java's timezone would
>>> be a big bug lots of people would have noticed by now.  Launchpad show
>>> anything?
>>>
>>> Brian
>>>
>> Now that I know what to search for, I found the following, which has a 
>> lot of history on the problem: 
>> <https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/sun-java5/+bug/49068>.
>>
> 
> Which version of tzdata-java do you have installed?
> 
> http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?searchon=names&keywords=tzdata
> http://packages.ubuntu.com/intrepid-updates/tzdata-java
> https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/tzdata
> 
> The most recent updata for intrepid was:
> 
> 2009f-0ubuntu0.8.10
> Published in intrepid-proposed on 2009-04-16
> tzdata (2009f-0ubuntu0.8.10) intrepid-proposed; urgency=low
>   * New timezone data 2009f: (LP: #358232):
>     - Fix DST rules for Jordan, Palestine, and Pakistan.
>  -- Martin Pitt <email address hidden>   Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:41:46 +0200

Unsurprisingly, I just got the update this morning for tzdata 2009f, and 
after running it, my /etc/localtime was now a hard file, and my test 
failed again.  I restored it as a symlink, and then the test succeeded 
again.