Bug#3087: Bug in date.

[jfbunch@ingr.com (John F. Bunch)]

Linux Bug Report from John F. Bunch (jfbunch@ingr.com)

Package:  GNU sh-utils
Version:  1.12-3

Hardware:  ASUS P/I-P55TP4N motherboard with 16550A UART's and EPP/ECP parallel
                port, 100 MHz Pentium CPU, 265 KB pipelined burst cache,
                16 MB EDO DRAM (32 MB swap partition).

Operating system:  Linux 1.2.13
    Distribution:  Debian 0.93 Release 6
        Compiler:  Software used as packaged.

Problem description:

     The date command will not set the hardware clock on the motherboard.  When
the date command is executed as root, the system date is changed, but upon
rebooting, the time has been changed to a time that is close to the time
before I entered the date command, but is neither the correct time nor the time
I set.  My system clock is configured for Greenwich Mean Time.  The only way I
can set my clock accurately is to use the BIOS.


Procedure to generate bug:

# date
Tue May 21 17:26:21 CDT 1996  # This time is correct according to my wristwatch.
# date --set=20:00:00
Tue May 21 20:00:00 CDT 1996
# shutdown -r now
(wait, then login)
$ date
Tue May 21 17:33:06 CDT 1996  # This time is slightly incorrect according to my
                              # wristwatch, and also is not close to the time
                              # I set before rebooting.