Bug#927458: apt-daily.timer Adding random time every 5 seconds
Package: apt
Version: 1.4.9
Severity: normal
Dear Maintainer,
Severity note: This appears to be relatively trivial problem in its impact
on the system. However, it has two possible more serious consequences:
1. The logs will end up taking a lot of space because of the constant messges.
2. The repeated randomization may end up producing really wild random numbers,
as a result of which the timers may fire either way too fast or way too slow.
The log spam also makes it more difficult to identify interesting things in the log (I know
there are ways around that), and the whole process must impose some performance penalty.
* What led up to the situation?
After a recent upgrade to stretch, my logs are filled with messages like this
Apr 19 12:38:27 ross-mail systemd[1]: apt-daily.timer: Adding 9h 57min 34.907602s random time.
Apr 19 12:38:27 ross-mail systemd[1]: apt-daily-upgrade.timer: Adding 51min 17.211953s random time.
Apr 19 12:38:32 ross-mail systemd[1]: Time has been changed
Apr 19 12:38:32 ross-mail systemd[1]: apt-daily.timer: Adding 11h 36min 18.852889s random time.
Apr 19 12:38:32 ross-mail systemd[1]: apt-daily-upgrade.timer: Adding 7min 19.203357s random time.
Apr 19 12:38:37 ross-mail systemd[1]: Time has been changed
Apr 19 12:38:37 ross-mail systemd[1]: apt-daily.timer: Adding 11h 4min 53.484274s random time.
Apr 19 12:38:37 ross-mail systemd[1]: apt-daily-upgrade.timer: Adding 4min 43.246953s random time.
Apr 19 12:38:42 ross-mail systemd[1]: Time has been changed
Apr 19 12:38:42 ross-mail systemd[1]: apt-daily.timer: Adding 6h 27min 36.345186s random time.
Apr 19 12:38:42 ross-mail systemd[1]: apt-daily-upgrade.timer: Adding 15min 43.087263s random time.
Apr 19 12:38:47 ross-mail systemd[1]: Time has been changed
Apr 19 12:38:47 ross-mail systemd[1]: apt-daily.timer: Adding 4h 46min 3.780698s random time.
Apr 19 12:38:47 ross-mail systemd[1]: apt-daily-upgrade.timer: Adding 2min 25.572155s random time.
Apr 19 12:38:52 ross-mail systemd[1]: Time has been changed
Apr 19 12:38:52 ross-mail systemd[1]: apt-daily.timer: Adding 6h 54min 42.591556s random time.
Apr 19 12:38:52 ross-mail systemd[1]: apt-daily-upgrade.timer: Adding 18min 42.538730s random time.
Apr 19 12:38:57 ross-mail systemd[1]: Time has been changed
Apr 19 12:38:57 ross-mail systemd[1]: apt-daily.timer: Adding 40min 9.786990s random time.
repeating endlessly.
The system is running under HyperV, which I gather resets the clock every 5 seconds.
* What exactly did you do (or not do) that was effective (or
ineffective)?
Searching turned up Debian bug 600262, which sounds similar. However, the solution
to it was to switch to the systemd timer, which seems to be source of the current problem.
https://askubuntu.com/questions/888493/var-log-syslog-systemd1-time-has-been-changed-message-every-5-seconds/890354#890354?newreg=0c5a628a4d8a4809a9298176c94d004e
reports a similar problem. The top-rated solution is to disable the time update in HyperV. Apart from the fact that I lack
the necessary rights, this seems liable to cause clock drift.
An alternate solution is to modify the filters for the log file to keep out the messages.
This is probably what I'll do, though I'm not sure the mechanics are is given there.
The suggestion modified /etc/rsyslog.d/, and I thought systemd was now doing the logging.
The same alternate solution says another alternative is to disable host time sync on VMBUS.
It's not explained, and once again completely breaking the connection seems extreme.
* What was the outcome of this action?
Nothing done yet. If I succeed in quieting the log, I'll still have the repeated timer updates.
I do not know if the repeated random times are additive, or simply replace the previous one.
In the former case, the effects seem likely to be bad. E.g., if the times added accumulate,
the timer may never fire.
* What outcome did you expect instead?
I would like for my VM time to remain syncronized with the host,
for my log not to be filled a huge number of junk messages,
and for the random timers to be reset just once.
-- Package-specific info:
-- apt-config dump --
APT "";
APT::Architecture "amd64";
APT::Build-Essential "";
APT::Build-Essential:: "build-essential";
APT::Install-Recommends "1";
APT::Install-Suggests "0";
APT::Sandbox "";
APT::Sandbox::User "_apt";
APT::Authentication "";
APT::Authentication::TrustCDROM "true";
APT::NeverAutoRemove "";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^firmware-linux.*";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-firmware$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-image-4\.9\.0-8-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-image-4\.9\.0-9-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-headers-4\.9\.0-8-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-headers-4\.9\.0-9-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-image-extra-4\.9\.0-8-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-image-extra-4\.9\.0-9-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-signed-image-4\.9\.0-8-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-signed-image-4\.9\.0-9-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^kfreebsd-image-4\.9\.0-8-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^kfreebsd-image-4\.9\.0-9-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^kfreebsd-headers-4\.9\.0-8-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^kfreebsd-headers-4\.9\.0-9-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^gnumach-image-4\.9\.0-8-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^gnumach-image-4\.9\.0-9-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^.*-modules-4\.9\.0-8-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^.*-modules-4\.9\.0-9-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^.*-kernel-4\.9\.0-8-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^.*-kernel-4\.9\.0-9-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-backports-modules-.*-4\.9\.0-8-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-backports-modules-.*-4\.9\.0-9-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-tools-4\.9\.0-8-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-tools-4\.9\.0-9-amd64$";
APT::VersionedKernelPackages "";
APT::VersionedKernelPackages:: "linux-image";
APT::VersionedKernelPackages:: "linux-headers";
APT::VersionedKernelPackages:: "linux-image-extra";
APT::VersionedKernelPackages:: "linux-signed-image";
APT::VersionedKernelPackages:: "kfreebsd-image";
APT::VersionedKernelPackages:: "kfreebsd-headers";
APT::VersionedKernelPackages:: "gnumach-image";
APT::VersionedKernelPackages:: ".*-modules";
APT::VersionedKernelPackages:: ".*-kernel";
APT::VersionedKernelPackages:: "linux-backports-modules-.*";
APT::VersionedKernelPackages:: "linux-tools";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections "";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "metapackages";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "contrib/metapackages";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "non-free/metapackages";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "restricted/metapackages";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "universe/metapackages";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "multiverse/metapackages";
APT::Move-Autobit-Sections "";
APT::Move-Autobit-Sections:: "oldlibs";
APT::Move-Autobit-Sections:: "contrib/oldlibs";
APT::Move-Autobit-Sections:: "non-free/oldlibs";
APT::Move-Autobit-Sections:: "restricted/oldlibs";
APT::Move-Autobit-Sections:: "universe/oldlibs";
APT::Move-Autobit-Sections:: "multiverse/oldlibs";
APT::Update "";
APT::Update::Post-Invoke-Success "";
APT::Update::Post-Invoke-Success:: "test -x /usr/bin/apt-show-versions || exit 0 ; apt-show-versions -i";
APT::Update::Post-Invoke "";
APT::Update::Post-Invoke:: "[ ! -x /usr/bin/debtags ] || debtags update || true";
APT::Architectures "";
APT::Architectures:: "amd64";
APT::Compressor "";
APT::Compressor::. "";
APT::Compressor::.::Name ".";
APT::Compressor::.::Extension "";
APT::Compressor::.::Binary "";
APT::Compressor::.::Cost "0";
APT::Compressor::lz4 "";
APT::Compressor::lz4::Name "lz4";
APT::Compressor::lz4::Extension ".lz4";
APT::Compressor::lz4::Binary "false";
APT::Compressor::lz4::Cost "50";
APT::Compressor::gzip "";
APT::Compressor::gzip::Name "gzip";
APT::Compressor::gzip::Extension ".gz";
APT::Compressor::gzip::Binary "gzip";
APT::Compressor::gzip::Cost "100";
APT::Compressor::gzip::CompressArg "";
APT::Compressor::gzip::CompressArg:: "-6n";
APT::Compressor::gzip::UncompressArg "";
APT::Compressor::gzip::UncompressArg:: "-d";
APT::Compressor::xz "";
APT::Compressor::xz::Name "xz";
APT::Compressor::xz::Extension ".xz";
APT::Compressor::xz::Binary "xz";
APT::Compressor::xz::Cost "200";
APT::Compressor::xz::CompressArg "";
APT::Compressor::xz::CompressArg:: "-6";
APT::Compressor::xz::UncompressArg "";
APT::Compressor::xz::UncompressArg:: "-d";
APT::Compressor::bzip2 "";
APT::Compressor::bzip2::Name "bzip2";
APT::Compressor::bzip2::Extension ".bz2";
APT::Compressor::bzip2::Binary "bzip2";
APT::Compressor::bzip2::Cost "300";
APT::Compressor::bzip2::CompressArg "";
APT::Compressor::bzip2::CompressArg:: "-6";
APT::Compressor::bzip2::UncompressArg "";
APT::Compressor::bzip2::UncompressArg:: "-d";
APT::Compressor::lzma "";
APT::Compressor::lzma::Name "lzma";
APT::Compressor::lzma::Extension ".lzma";
APT::Compressor::lzma::Binary "xz";
APT::Compressor::lzma::Cost "400";
APT::Compressor::lzma::CompressArg "";
APT::Compressor::lzma::CompressArg:: "--format=lzma";
APT::Compressor::lzma::CompressArg:: "-6";
APT::Compressor::lzma::UncompressArg "";
APT::Compressor::lzma::UncompressArg:: "--format=lzma";
APT::Compressor::lzma::UncompressArg:: "-d";
Dir "/";
Dir::State "var/lib/apt";
Dir::State::lists "lists/";
Dir::State::cdroms "cdroms.list";
Dir::State::mirrors "mirrors/";
Dir::State::extended_states "extended_states";
Dir::State::status "/var/lib/dpkg/status";
Dir::Cache "var/cache/apt";
Dir::Cache::archives "archives/";
Dir::Cache::srcpkgcache "srcpkgcache.bin";
Dir::Cache::pkgcache "pkgcache.bin";
Dir::Etc "etc/apt";
Dir::Etc::sourcelist "sources.list";
Dir::Etc::sourceparts "sources.list.d";
Dir::Etc::main "apt.conf";
Dir::Etc::netrc "auth.conf";
Dir::Etc::parts "apt.conf.d";
Dir::Etc::preferences "preferences";
Dir::Etc::preferencesparts "preferences.d";
Dir::Etc::trusted "trusted.gpg";
Dir::Etc::trustedparts "trusted.gpg.d";
Dir::Bin "";
Dir::Bin::methods "/usr/lib/apt/methods";
Dir::Bin::solvers "";
Dir::Bin::solvers:: "/usr/lib/apt/solvers";
Dir::Bin::planners "";
Dir::Bin::planners:: "/usr/lib/apt/planners";
Dir::Bin::dpkg "/usr/bin/dpkg";
Dir::Bin::gzip "/bin/gzip";
Dir::Bin::bzip2 "/bin/bzip2";
Dir::Bin::xz "/usr/bin/xz";
Dir::Bin::lz4 "/usr/bin/lz4";
Dir::Bin::lzma "/usr/bin/xz";
Dir::Media "";
Dir::Media::MountPath "/media/cdrom";
Dir::Log "var/log/apt";
Dir::Log::Terminal "term.log";
Dir::Log::History "history.log";
Dir::Log::Planner "eipp.log.xz";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently "";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently:: "~$";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently:: "\.disabled$";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently:: "\.bak$";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently:: "\.dpkg-[a-z]+$";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently:: "\.ucf-[a-z]+$";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently:: "\.save$";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently:: "\.orig$";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently:: "\.distUpgrade$";
Acquire "";
Acquire::AllowInsecureRepositories "0";
Acquire::AllowWeakRepositories "0";
Acquire::AllowDowngradeToInsecureRepositories "0";
Acquire::cdrom "";
Acquire::cdrom::mount "/media/cdrom";
Acquire::IndexTargets "";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb "";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb::Packages "";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb::Packages::MetaKey "$(COMPONENT)/binary-$(ARCHITECTURE)/Packages";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb::Packages::flatMetaKey "Packages";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb::Packages::ShortDescription "Packages";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb::Packages::Description "$(RELEASE)/$(COMPONENT) $(ARCHITECTURE) Packages";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb::Packages::flatDescription "$(RELEASE) Packages";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb::Packages::Optional "0";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb::Translations "";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb::Translations::MetaKey "$(COMPONENT)/i18n/Translation-$(LANGUAGE)";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb::Translations::flatMetaKey "$(LANGUAGE)";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb::Translations::ShortDescription "Translation-$(LANGUAGE)";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb::Translations::Description "$(RELEASE)/$(COMPONENT) Translation-$(LANGUAGE)";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb::Translations::flatDescription "$(RELEASE) Translation-$(LANGUAGE)";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb-src "";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb-src::Sources "";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb-src::Sources::MetaKey "$(COMPONENT)/source/Sources";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb-src::Sources::flatMetaKey "Sources";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb-src::Sources::ShortDescription "Sources";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb-src::Sources::Description "$(RELEASE)/$(COMPONENT) Sources";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb-src::Sources::flatDescription "$(RELEASE) Sources";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb-src::Sources::Optional "0";
Acquire::Changelogs "";
Acquire::Changelogs::URI "";
Acquire::Changelogs::URI::Origin "";
Acquire::Changelogs::URI::Origin::Debian "http://metadata.ftp-master.debian.org/changelogs/@CHANGEPATH@_changelog";;
Acquire::Changelogs::URI::Origin::Tanglu "http://metadata.tanglu.org/changelogs/@CHANGEPATH@_changelog";;
Acquire::Changelogs::URI::Origin::Ubuntu "http://changelogs.ubuntu.com/changelogs/pool/@CHANGEPATH@/changelog";;
Acquire::Changelogs::URI::Origin::Ultimedia "http://packages.ultimediaos.com/changelogs/pool/@CHANGEPATH@/changelog.txt";;
Acquire::Changelogs::AlwaysOnline "";
Acquire::Changelogs::AlwaysOnline::Origin "";
Acquire::Changelogs::AlwaysOnline::Origin::Ubuntu "1";
Acquire::Languages "";
Acquire::Languages:: "en";
Acquire::Languages:: "none";
Acquire::CompressionTypes "";
Acquire::CompressionTypes::xz "xz";
Acquire::CompressionTypes::bz2 "bzip2";
Acquire::CompressionTypes::lzma "lzma";
Acquire::CompressionTypes::gz "gzip";
Acquire::CompressionTypes::lz4 "lz4";
Aptitude "";
Aptitude::Get-Root-Command "sudo:/usr/bin/sudo";
DPkg "";
DPkg::Pre-Invoke "";
DPkg::Pre-Invoke:: "if [ -x /usr/bin/etckeeper ]; then etckeeper pre-install; fi";
DPkg::Post-Invoke "";
DPkg::Post-Invoke:: "if [ -x /usr/bin/etckeeper ]; then etckeeper post-install; fi";
DPkg::Post-Invoke:: "if test -x /usr/share/dhelp/scripts/index-deferred; then /usr/share/dhelp/scripts/index-deferred; fi";
DPkg::Pre-Install-Pkgs "";
DPkg::Pre-Install-Pkgs:: "/usr/bin/apt-listchanges --apt || test $? -lt 10";
DPkg::Pre-Install-Pkgs:: "/usr/sbin/dpkg-preconfigure --apt || true";
DPkg::Tools "";
DPkg::Tools::Options "";
DPkg::Tools::Options::/usr/bin/apt-listchanges "";
DPkg::Tools::Options::/usr/bin/apt-listchanges::Version "2";
DPkg::Tools::Options::/usr/bin/apt-listchanges::InfoFD "20";
RPM "";
RPM::Pre-Invoke "";
RPM::Pre-Invoke:: "if [ -x /usr/bin/etckeeper ]; then etckeeper pre-install; fi";
RPM::Post-Invoke "";
RPM::Post-Invoke:: "if [ -x /usr/bin/etckeeper ]; then etckeeper post-install; fi";
Binary "apt-config";
Binary::apt "";
Binary::apt::APT "";
Binary::apt::APT::Color "1";
Binary::apt::APT::Cache "";
Binary::apt::APT::Cache::Show "";
Binary::apt::APT::Cache::Show::Version "2";
Binary::apt::APT::Cache::AllVersions "0";
Binary::apt::APT::Cache::ShowVirtuals "1";
Binary::apt::APT::Cache::Search "";
Binary::apt::APT::Cache::Search::Version "2";
Binary::apt::APT::Cache::ShowDependencyType "1";
Binary::apt::APT::Cache::ShowVersion "1";
Binary::apt::APT::Get "";
Binary::apt::APT::Get::Upgrade-Allow-New "1";
Binary::apt::APT::Cmd "";
Binary::apt::APT::Cmd::Show-Update-Stats "1";
Binary::apt::APT::Keep-Downloaded-Packages "0";
Binary::apt::DPkg "";
Binary::apt::DPkg::Progress-Fancy "1";
Binary::apt-get "";
Binary::apt-get::Acquire "";
Binary::apt-get::Acquire::AllowInsecureRepositories "1";
CommandLine "";
CommandLine::AsString "apt-config dump";
-- (no /etc/apt/preferences present) --
-- (no /etc/apt/preferences.d/* present) --
-- /etc/apt/sources.list --
deb http://mirrors.ocf.berkeley.edu/debian stretch main contrib non-free
deb-src http://mirrors.ocf.berkeley.edu/debian stretch main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/ stretch/updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ stretch/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://mirrors.ocf.berkeley.edu/debian stretch-updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://mirrors.ocf.berkeley.edu/debian stretch-updates main contrib non-free
deb http://mirrors.ocf.berkeley.edu/debian stretch-proposed-updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://mirrors.ocf.berkeley.edu/debian stretch-proposed-updates main contrib non-free
-- (no /etc/apt/sources.list.d/* present) --
-- System Information:
Debian Release: 9.8
APT prefers stable-updates
APT policy: (500, 'stable-updates'), (500, 'proposed-updates'), (500, 'stable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Kernel: Linux 4.9.0-8-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
Versions of packages apt depends on:
ii adduser 3.115
ii debian-archive-keyring 2017.5
ii gpgv 2.1.18-8~deb9u4
ii init-system-helpers 1.48
ii libapt-pkg5.0 1.4.9
ii libc6 2.24-11+deb9u4
ii libgcc1 1:6.3.0-18+deb9u1
ii libstdc++6 6.3.0-18+deb9u1
Versions of packages apt recommends:
ii gnupg 2.1.18-8~deb9u4
ii gnupg2 2.1.18-8~deb9u4
Versions of packages apt suggests:
ii apt-doc 1.4.9
ii aptitude 0.8.7-1
ii dpkg-dev 1.18.25
pn powermgmt-base <none>
ii python-apt 1.4.0~beta3
-- no debconf information
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