Package: tzdata Version: 2016d-2 Severity: wishlist /etc/localtime got turned into a symlink in 2016a-1 (see bug #803144), now that /usr gets mounted from the initrd. This now leaves /etc/timezone completely redundant, as you should get exactly the same answer by readlink /etc/localtime -- and if you do not get the same answer, you have an inconsistency. /etc/localtime obviously "wins" for the actual clock (as that's what programs are reading), but you presumably get the /etc/timezone value in some "system configuration tool" packages which read /etc/timezone first. https://codesearch.debian.net/perpackage-results/%2Fetc%2Ftimezone shows a fair number of hits, but it's actually not so bad: as /etc/timezone is a Debianism and /etc/localtime the distro-agnostic standard, a lot of software which isn't Debian specific already looks at both and only falls back to /etc/timezone if /etc/localtime does not exist. A desktop installation boots fine and with the correct time/zone after removing /etc/timezone. If you are generally open to the idea, I can look through the above codesearch results more closely to see which packages need fixing, file bugs, and block this bug on those. But as that's quite some work, I'd first like to discuss this with you. Thanks! Martin -- Martin Pitt | http://www.piware.de Ubuntu Developer (www.ubuntu.com) | Debian Developer (www.debian.org)
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