[Bug 1554806] [NEW] Change of behavior: "dpkg-reconfigure -f noninteractive" unconditionally overwrites /etc/timezone now

[Hajo Möller]

Public bug reported:

In previous versions it was possible to set the system's timezone by
editing /etc/timezone before running "dpkg-reconfigure -f noninteractive
tzdata".

This behavior changed, /etc/timezone gets overwritten unconditionally during "dpkg-reconfigure -f noninteractive tzdata":
---
root at xenial:/# echo "Europe/Berlin" > /etc/timezone
root at xenial:/# cat /etc/timezone
Europe/Berlin
root at xenial:/# dpkg-reconfigure -f noninteractive tzdata

Current default time zone: 'Etc/UTC'
Local time is now:      Tue Mar  8 23:09:39 UTC 2016.
Universal Time is now:  Tue Mar  8 23:09:39 UTC 2016.

root at xenial:/# cat /etc/timezone
Etc/UTC
---

As a workaround to programmatically set the timezone one now needs to point "/etc/localtime" to the new timezone:
---
root at xenial:/# ln -fs /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Berlin /etc/localtime
root at xenial:/# ll /etc/localtime
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 33 Mar  9 00:48 /etc/localtime -> /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Berlin
root at xenial:/# cat /etc/timezone
Etc/UTC
root at xenial:/# dpkg-reconfigure -f noninteractive tzdata

Current default time zone: 'Europe/Berlin'
Local time is now:      Wed Mar  9 00:49:05 CET 2016.
Universal Time is now:  Tue Mar  8 23:49:05 UTC 2016.

root at xenial:/# cat /etc/timezone
Europe/Berlin
---

** Affects: tzdata (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1554806

Title:
  Change of behavior: "dpkg-reconfigure -f noninteractive"
  unconditionally overwrites /etc/timezone now

Status in tzdata package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  In previous versions it was possible to set the system's timezone by
  editing /etc/timezone before running "dpkg-reconfigure -f
  noninteractive tzdata".

  This behavior changed, /etc/timezone gets overwritten unconditionally during "dpkg-reconfigure -f noninteractive tzdata":
  ---
  root at xenial:/# echo "Europe/Berlin" > /etc/timezone
  root at xenial:/# cat /etc/timezone
  Europe/Berlin
  root at xenial:/# dpkg-reconfigure -f noninteractive tzdata

  Current default time zone: 'Etc/UTC'
  Local time is now:      Tue Mar  8 23:09:39 UTC 2016.
  Universal Time is now:  Tue Mar  8 23:09:39 UTC 2016.

  root at xenial:/# cat /etc/timezone
  Etc/UTC
  ---

  As a workaround to programmatically set the timezone one now needs to point "/etc/localtime" to the new timezone:
  ---
  root at xenial:/# ln -fs /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Berlin /etc/localtime
  root at xenial:/# ll /etc/localtime
  lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 33 Mar  9 00:48 /etc/localtime -> /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Berlin
  root at xenial:/# cat /etc/timezone
  Etc/UTC
  root at xenial:/# dpkg-reconfigure -f noninteractive tzdata

  Current default time zone: 'Europe/Berlin'
  Local time is now:      Wed Mar  9 00:49:05 CET 2016.
  Universal Time is now:  Tue Mar  8 23:49:05 UTC 2016.

  root at xenial:/# cat /etc/timezone
  Europe/Berlin
  ---

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