installer assumes system time is UTC

[jmdennis]

For both Kubuntu and Ubuntu it seems to have a bug with the time. I was able to change the time in Ubuntu but can not in Kubuntu using the adjust date and time or even the sudo date -s. Below is what I typed and the error I got. This error also occurs when I try and do any thing since the time is off by 8 hours. If I try and do the adjust date and time again after entering my password I get conversation with su failed. I also can not enter sudo any thing since it shows it is to far in the future. I started up by doing the sudo pppoeconf and it only allowed this before saying every thing else I do is to far in the future.

jmdennis@kubuntu:~$ sudo date -s "Wed Jan 18 23:26 PST 2006"
sudo: timestamp too far in the future: Jan 18 23:27:05 2006

[jmdennis (jmdennis)]

I just wanted to add that I was able to change the time by using sudo date -s but then when I tried to connect to the network it would not allow me. I then restarted the system which brought me to a non-graphical login. I shut down the system and then later when I turned it back on the time was set 8 hours in the past again. For some reason with Kubuntu when I do a restart it comes up with out a graphical login but if I shutdown and start up later it starts up fine other then being slower then previous releases.

[jmdennis (jmdennis)]

I wanted to just say that I am using the PowerPC version of Dapper. I had this problem with Ubuntu but I am able to fix this with setting the clock but in Kubuntu I can not do this. For me there is no way to use Kubuntu with this bug.

[jmdennis (jmdennis)]

I am up to Dapper Flight 4 and I have to change the time each time as it is always 8 hours behind. It would be nice if I could set it and then it would keep this time. I installed Yellow Dog Linux 4.1 and it knew what the time was right off the bat. I have not had problems with it. I like using Ubuntu and Kubuntu though as they are more up to date. I just want the system to work and for me it does not since I have to reset the time each time I log in.

[jmdennis (jmdennis)]

The 8 hours behind is also a bug with Ubuntu. Both no matter which flight release I have is always 8 hours behind. I just can not start the graphical change date and time in Kubuntu like I can in Ubuntu but both for me are always 8 hours off.

[Yuriy Kozlov (yuriy-kozlov)]

What timezone are you in?
"Wed Jan 18 23:26 PST 2006"
Says US-pacific, is that correct?

During installation, the installer asks if your BIOS is set in UTC (universal time) or not. If you said yes even though it's set in PST, then (k)ubuntu will subtract another 8 hours because it thinks the time in your BIOS is UTC and PST=UTC-8. I don't know how to change this setting on an installed system. If you have tried installing with both "yes" and "no" for that question, then it's a bug.

[jmdennis (jmdennis)]

I have a mac so no bios and it did not ask me this question.

[Steven Black (stevenblack141)]

The /etc/default/rcS file contains the "UTC" setting for the system. I agree with Yuriy that your symptom appears to indicate that that setting is incorrect.

What is the result of the following command:
grep UTC /etc/default/rcS

Do you boot your PPC into another OS? Mac OS? BSD? BeOS? Do the other operating systems show the correct time?

[jmdennis (jmdennis)]

I have not entered the grep command yet. I do not have another OS on the same drive but I have loaded OS 10.2 on here and it showed the right time. I even loaded YDL 4.1 on another drive and it picked up the right time right off the bat. I have Ubuntu on a SCSI hard drive and Kubuntu on a IDE hard drive. I have YDL on another IDE hard drive that is not in my system but I can plug it in and each time I have it picks up the time with out any issues.

[Steven Black (stevenblack141)]

As the other operating systems are showing the correct time, then it points to the UTC setting being wrong. Try changing the UTC setting in the /etc/default/rcS file and reboot.

I think the init script that uses this is /etc/init.d/hwclock. If you check the script for usable command-line arguments, it may be possible to reset the clock without rebooting. Unfortunately, I can't verify this until later in the day.

[Yuriy Kozlov (yuriy-kozlov)]

If that setting in fact turns out to be the problem, please check if the latest PPC install cd asks that question. If the installer assumes the system time is set to UTC, that's the bug here that needs to be fixed.

[jmdennis (jmdennis)]

The UTC setting was in fact set to yes. I am not sure how it got that way but it makes sense that it would always be 8 hours behind. Did you want me to try the latest flight release or a daily release? I have not downloaded and burned flight 5 yet for either Ubuntu or Kubuntu. I have always kept my system up to date though. I set UTC to no and reset the time and then rebooted and the time went back 8 hours behind again. I have not checked the script though but I did set UTC=no and saved the changes.

[jmdennis (jmdennis)]

I forgot to mention that it does ask for what time zone I am in and I always pick PST when doing the install. For some reason it is always 8 hours behind. Now I know it is because the UTC is set to yes even though I always put down PST. I will download Flight 5 today and see if in fact it is the same problem.

[Yuriy Kozlov (yuriy-kozlov)]

It would probably be better if you downloaded a daily build in case it was fixed after flight 5. I think I first saw that question asked on a daily build installation cd for i386 or amd64 sometime around flight 4 though.

[jmdennis (jmdennis)]

Can you please give me the website for the daily build and I will go to it and download it and then install this instead?

[Yuriy Kozlov (yuriy-kozlov)]

ubuntu: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily/current/
kubuntu: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/daily/current/

[jmdennis (jmdennis)]

Thanks for the information. After I sent this I decided to check google and I found the one for ubuntu but I appreciate the one for kubuntu as this is the one that I use the most. I will install both though as I would like to see if they are both working or not.

[jmdennis (jmdennis)]

I installed Ubuntu the daily build. Both builds do not recognize my keyboard. Well they do but then it gets an error so I have to bypass this. The time is still 8 hours behind even though I selected Pacific. It is annoying that I am always 8 hours behind. I know why it is now but since I select the right time zone the time should be fine but it is not.

[Yuriy Kozlov (yuriy-kozlov)]

So the installer did not ask if your system clock was set to UTC and just assumed that it was?

Please file a seperate bug about the keyboard.

[jmdennis (jmdennis)]

It asked me what time zone I was in and I answered that I was in the pacific time zone. It did not ask about UTC how ever. They keyboard I was just making a comment about as this never happens with the dapper releases so I know this problem is just because of the daily release.

[Raphaël Pinson (raphink)]

This bug is not linked to kubuntu. It seems it should be filed against debian-installer rather.

[Reuben Firmin (reubenf)]

I have flight 6 and the exact same bug. I am unable to really use my laptop (ibook) since I need to install some software to get it working the way I need it to, and of course I can't install anything since sudo is borked. I guess I'll go back to breezy for the interim. Let me know if there's any debugging info you need before I do, though.

[Yuriy Kozlov (yuriy-kozlov)]

Upping severity since this is rendering people's systems unusable as in the previous comment.

[Reuben Firmin (reubenf)]

I discovered a workaround. sudo works correctly the first time (and the first time only) after boot. Therefore, you can do sudo passwd to set the root password, and use su thereafter. This is not the "ubuntu way", however, so discretionary use is of course implicit.

The fact that sudo would work the first time but not thereafter seems to indicate that it is specifically a sudo bug, and perhaps not an installer one. Thoughts?

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

See also bug #37380 and bug #8898.

Reuben, to fix a broken system, boot in recovery mode and edit /etc/default/rcS to have UTC=no.

[Yuriy Kozlov (yuriy-kozlov)]

If #37380 is a duplicate of this one, then this isn't just a ppc problem. Does the installer not ask this question anymore? Does everybody have this problem, or it just somehow depends on the hardware?

[Pavel Lobach (lobach-pavel)]

I also have similar bug (on i386, not ppc):
When installing from the Dapper 6.06 LiveCD, installer desn't ask for UTC setting, so it assume that BIOS time = UTC, then after the time zone selection, the time is incorrect, so i change it, but "Windows" think that BIOS time is a local time and show it incorrect.
I thnik default behaviour for installer must be BIOS time = local time.
Or it would be greate to have the ability change this setting on installed system (I can edit config file, but...).

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

clock-setup (0.8ubuntu1) dapper; urgency=low

  * OS probing doesn't reliably tell us when we're the only OS on the
    system, and even if it does we can't necessarily assume that that means
    the hardware clock is set to UTC. Therefore, ask the UTC question,
    defaulting to true, even if we appear to be the only OS (closes: Malone
    #28961).

 -- Colin Watson <email address hidden> Wed, 17 May 2006 19:52:20 +0100

[GarlicSalt2 (garlicsalt2)]

For anyone that is CURRENTLY experiencing this bug, I know the temporary fix. cd to ./etc/defaults. Then using your favorite text editor, open rcS and change the line "utc=yes" to "utc=no". If you are doing a fresh install, I have found a way to easily force the debian-installer to ask you whether or not system time is UTC: Select your time zone as usual, but when your asked something about "Is this correct", answer NO! Then reselect your time zone settings. You should then be asked the missing question "Is system clock set to UTC?". Here, you would answer NO as well. Continue on as normal from there. I am going to assume that this installer trick will work with the LiveCD, but I haven't tried it out myself.

I discovered this trick while trying to solve this bug under x86 Ubuntu 5.10 Breezy under a bug which I filed. That but has since been merged with this one. I write this for all of those who didn't know this and are frustrated with having to wait for dapper to be released to get this fixed.

--Aaron

[towsonu2003 (towsonu2003)]

I have been using Dapper for a while without booting to Windows. The other day I had to boot and when I came back, Ubuntu's time was changed. I just had time to check out why this could be and it seems this bug was in the final Dapper (6.06) installer... I'm not sure if it is fixed for Dapper 6.06.1 so I tried to "nominate" the fix for "Ubuntu Dapper".

Also, as per the previous comment, this also seems to be a problem of the installer. is it fixed there (I use d-i to install ubuntu)?

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

> I have been using Dapper for a while without booting to Windows. The other day I had to boot and when I came back, Ubuntu's time was changed.

Towsonu, wasn't this just Windows clumsily adjusting the hardware clock for Daylight Saving? If you hadn't booted Windows since October...

[towsonu2003 (towsonu2003)]

> Towsonu, wasn't this just Windows clumsily adjusting the hardware clock for Daylight
> Saving? If you hadn't booted Windows since October...

as usual, I forgot to write something, than I thought I wrote it. I shouldn't have quit smoking....

I meant to write this:
"... Ubuntu's time was changed... *This was happening when I first installed Dapper and was booting to Windows*... --> I just had time to check out why this could be and it seems this bug was in the final Dapper (6.06) installer..."

oh, and of course, I had this, which seems to be an indicator of the bug (because I didn't set Ubuntu to UTC):

~$ grep UTC /etc/default/rcS
# Set UTC=yes if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT), and UTC=no if not.
UTC=yes