/etc/localtime incorrect link created by dateandtime kcm

[Leszek Lesner]

Setting the timezone in the timeanddate kcm (by right clicking the clock and going to configuration) copies a file from /usr/share/zoneinfo/<region>/<city>.
So for example it tries copying /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Berlin <-- This file however is a link pointing to ../posix/Europe/Berlin. As the file gets copied to /etc/localtime the symlink is wrong.
This results in a bad timezone and time (as it defaults to UTC on a wrong /etc/localtime file).

Instead of copying linking should work here. I attached a patch which fixes this error.
This seems not to be an upstream issue as at least openSUSE is not using symlinks in /usr/share/zoneinfo . So it is debian/ubuntu specific.

----
zic bug is bug #1212662

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

The attachment "Patch fixing wrong linked /etc/localtime" seems to be a patch. If it isn't, please remove the "patch" flag from the attachment, remove the "patch" tag, and if you are a member of the ~ubuntu-reviewers, unsubscribe the team.

[This is an automated message performed by a Launchpad user owned by ~brian-murray, for any issues please contact him.]

[Harald Sitter (apachelogger)]

We have zic installed by default, so the patch really doesn't help as zic is the one copying and not linking or rather, copying without checking if it is a link.

Can't say more than that right now though.

[Leszek Lesner (leszek-lesner)]

What about disabling the zic check then and manually linking the file instead of copying (like in my patch) ?
That should fix it as a workaround as long as zic behaves strangely.

[Harald Sitter (apachelogger)]

Yes, short of getting zic fixed for 13.10 that is the plan.

[Ubuntu QA Website (ubuntuqa)]

This bug has been reported on the Ubuntu ISO testing tracker.

A list of all reports related to this bug can be found here:
http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/reports/bugs/1206199

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package kde-workspace - 4:4.11.1-0ubuntu5

---------------
kde-workspace (4:4.11.1-0ubuntu5) saucy; urgency=low

  * Add kubuntu_avoid_zic_and_deep_copy_timezone_data.diff
    It does not use zic when available as zic is broken. Also adds symlink
    handling, when a tz file is a symlink, it gets the link target and
    copies that instead. This prevents broken symlinks. (LP: #1206199)
 -- Harald Sitter <email address hidden> Thu, 26 Sep 2013 16:09:27 +0200