@adconrad you are wrong,
If i set my timezone via timedatectl to Europe/Berlin, I get:
dev-t@pi3:~$ cat /etc/timezone
Europe/Berlin
dev-t@pi3:~$ ls -l /etc/timezone
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 Nov 27 05:24 /etc/timezone -> /etc/writable/timezone
dev-t@pi3:~$ date
Mon Nov 27 17:16:18 CET 2017
dev-t@pi3:~$ ls -l /etc/localtime
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 23 Nov 27 05:24 /etc/localtime -> /etc/writable/localtime
dev-t@pi3:~$ timedatectl
Local time: Mon 2017-11-27 16:16:05 UTC
Universal time: Mon 2017-11-27 16:16:05 UTC
RTC time: n/a
Time zone: n/a (UTC, +0000)
Network time on: yes
NTP synchronized: yes
RTC in local TZ: no
dev-t@pi3:~$ ls -l /etc/hostname
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 Nov 27 05:24 /etc/hostname -> /etc/writable/hostname
dev-t@pi3:~$ hostnamectl
Static hostname: pi3
Icon name: computer
Machine ID: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Boot ID: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Operating System: Ubuntu Core 16
Kernel: Linux 4.4.0-1077-raspi2
Architecture: arm
@adconrad you are wrong,
If i set my timezone via timedatectl to Europe/Berlin, I get:
dev-t@pi3:~$ cat /etc/timezone timezone
Europe/Berlin
dev-t@pi3:~$ ls -l /etc/timezone
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 Nov 27 05:24 /etc/timezone -> /etc/writable/
dev-t@pi3:~$ date
Mon Nov 27 17:16:18 CET 2017
dev-t@pi3:~$ ls -l /etc/localtime localtime
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 23 Nov 27 05:24 /etc/localtime -> /etc/writable/
dev-t@pi3:~$ timedatectl
Local time: Mon 2017-11-27 16:16:05 UTC
Universal time: Mon 2017-11-27 16:16:05 UTC
RTC time: n/a
Time zone: n/a (UTC, +0000)
Network time on: yes
NTP synchronized: yes
RTC in local TZ: no
dev-t@pi3:~$ ls -l /etc/hostname hostname XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 Nov 27 05:24 /etc/hostname -> /etc/writable/
dev-t@pi3:~$ hostnamectl
Static hostname: pi3
Icon name: computer
Machine ID: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Boot ID: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Operating System: Ubuntu Core 16
Kernel: Linux 4.4.0-1077-raspi2
Architecture: arm