[time-admin] Time admin seems not to remember selected time zone

[Mathieu Marquer]

Binary package hint: gnome-system-tools

Using gnome-system-tools 2.28.0-0ubuntu1 on Ubuntu Karmic.

Steps to reproduce the bug :
* Launch time-admin
--> No time zone in selected
* Clic on the time zone button to select one
--> Time zone selection menu appears
* Select a time zone (for example Europe/Paris), and close the selection window
--> Time admin shows Europe/Paris as selected time zone
* Close, then reopen time-admin
--> No time zone is selected

I'm not sure whether the time-zone is correctly set or not, but I think that even if it correctly set, time-admin should show the selected time zone.

[Milan Bouchet-Valat (nalimilan)]

Thanks for the report. Are there any errors printed in the console if you run 'time-admin' from it?

Could you also run in two different terminals
sudo killall /usr/bin/perl; sudo /usr/share/system-tools-backends-2.0/scripts/SystemToolsBackends.pl --platform ubuntu-7.04 -m TimeConfig -v
sudo killall system-tools-backends; system-tools-backends -nd
and post the output here?

[Mathieu Marquer (slasher-fun)]

Are there any errors printed in the console if you run 'time-admin' from it?
--> Yup, I get 3 times "(time-admin:11681): GLib-GIO-WARNING **: g_simple_async_result_complete() called from outside main loop!" just by launching time-admin

Could you also run in two different terminals [...]
--> 1st terminal says "begin::Start of work report.", 2nd one says "** (system-tools-backends:11759): CRITICAL **: Connection ":1.79" is not allowed to own the service "org.freedesktop.SystemToolsBackends" due to security policies in the configuration file"

[Milan Bouchet-Valat (nalimilan)]

Oh, sorry, I always write this painful process wrong. The correct commands are (I forgot one 'sudo'):
sudo killall /usr/bin/perl; sudo /usr/share/system-tools-backends-2.0/scripts/SystemToolsBackends.pl --platform ubuntu-7.04 -m TimeConfig -v
sudo killall system-tools-backends; sudo system-tools-backends -nd

And I forgot to precise, please run time-admin after running those commands, and stop them only when it's done.

(The error messages from time-admin come from PolicyKit1, and are not a problem at all.)

[Mathieu Marquer (slasher-fun)]

OK, this one 1st one says

/usr/bin/perl: no process found
begin::Start of work report.
file_locate_tool_success::Found tool [uname].
file_run_pipe_success::Piping command [LC_ALL=C PATH=$PATH:/sbin:/usr/sbin /bin/uname -s 2> /dev/null |] for reading.
platform_no_table::No parse/replace table for platform [].
Argument "" isn't numeric in subroutine entry at /usr/lib/perl5/Net/DBus/Binding/Iterator.pm line 443.
Argument "" isn't numeric in subroutine entry at /usr/lib/perl5/Net/DBus/Binding/Iterator.pm line 443.
Argument "" isn't numeric in subroutine entry at /usr/lib/perl5/Net/DBus/Binding/Iterator.pm line 443.
Argument "" isn't numeric in subroutine entry at /usr/lib/perl5/Net/DBus/Binding/Iterator.pm line 443.
Argument "" isn't numeric in subroutine entry at /usr/lib/perl5/Net/DBus/Binding/Iterator.pm line 443.
Argument "" isn't numeric in subroutine entry at /usr/lib/perl5/Net/DBus/Binding/Iterator.pm line 443.
platform_no_table::No parse/replace table for platform [ubuntu-7.04].
platform_no_table::No parse/replace table for platform [ubuntu-7.04].
platform_no_table::No parse/replace table for platform [ubuntu-7.04].

and 2nd one says

** (system-tools-backends:10600): DEBUG: dispatching message to: /org/freedesktop/SystemToolsBackends/Platform
** (system-tools-backends:10600): DEBUG: sending reply from: /org/freedesktop/SystemToolsBackends/Platform
** (system-tools-backends:10600): DEBUG: dispatching message to: /org/freedesktop/SystemToolsBackends/TimeConfig
** (system-tools-backends:10600): DEBUG: dispatching message to: /org/freedesktop/SystemToolsBackends/NTPConfig
** (system-tools-backends:10600): DEBUG: dispatching message to: /org/freedesktop/SystemToolsBackends/ServicesConfig
** (system-tools-backends:10600): DEBUG: sending reply from: /org/freedesktop/SystemToolsBackends/TimeConfig
** (system-tools-backends:10600): DEBUG: dispatching message to: /org/freedesktop/SystemToolsBackends/Platform
** (system-tools-backends:10600): DEBUG: sending reply from: /org/freedesktop/SystemToolsBackends/Platform
** (system-tools-backends:10600): DEBUG: sending reply from: /org/freedesktop/SystemToolsBackends/NTPConfig
** (system-tools-backends:10600): DEBUG: dispatching message to: /org/freedesktop/SystemToolsBackends/Platform
** (system-tools-backends:10600): DEBUG: sending reply from: /org/freedesktop/SystemToolsBackends/Platform
** (system-tools-backends:10600): DEBUG: sending reply from: /org/freedesktop/SystemToolsBackends/ServicesConfig

** (system-tools-backends:10600): CRITICAL **: No such method ServicesConfig->getFiles
** (system-tools-backends:10600): DEBUG: dispatching message to: /org/freedesktop/SystemToolsBackends/ServicesConfig
** (system-tools-backends:10600): DEBUG: sending reply from: /org/freedesktop/SystemToolsBackends/ServicesConfig

** (system-tools-backends:10600): CRITICAL **: No such method ServicesConfig->getFiles
** (system-tools-backends:10600): DEBUG: subject is allowed to do action 'org.freedesktop.systemtoolsbackends.set'
** (system-tools-backends:10600): DEBUG: dispatching message to: /org/freedesktop/SystemToolsBackends/TimeConfig
** (system-tools-backends:10600): DEBUG: sending reply from: /org/freedesktop/Sy...

[Milan Bouchet-Valat (nalimilan)]

OK, thanks for the debugging. I've just upgraded to Karmic, and I can now confirm the problem.

Attached is an improved version of the patch currently shipped as 01_debian_4.0.patch. It makes detection of Debian-based systems even more standard, using /etc/lsb-release so that we are not confused by the version from /etc/debian_version. That was the cause if the problem in Karmic. With the new patch, Ubuntu is assumed to work as Debian everywhere, which I believe is correct. Versioning is removed, which is already what the original patch did.

To packagers: I could commit that fix or something similar upstream since it cleans the mess that distro detection has become, and should not affect other distributions. Then I can release a 2.8.2 minor release including this, plus two other fixes. Does this scenario fit your needs, or do you prefer updating the patch only in Ubuntu?

[Milan Bouchet-Valat (nalimilan)]

Ping?

[Milan Bouchet-Valat (nalimilan)]

Fixed in 2.8.2.

[Gijs Peskens (gijspeskens)]

I don't know if it is the same bug as not, but I'm unable to change time zone as well as time using time-admin
Running it from console, unlocking, changing time zone/time and then closing does not give error output to console however time or zone are not changed in any way. Which is very frustrating to say the least.
Fully patched up

[Mathieu Marquer (slasher-fun)]

Yup, confirming the "setting time" issue too.

[Gijs Peskens (gijspeskens)]

For those unable to set the correct time/zone I found a (straight-forward) work around:
right click the time and date in the top right of your screen
open the preferences
go to locations and add your location/a location with the same time zone
click the time and date so the drop down menu will open
click the set button next to your location to set time zone to your zone
click time settings in the still open menu
set the correct time and click set system time

of course if you are familiar with the console the date command in combination with sudo should also work

[Milan Bouchet-Valat (nalimilan)]

Fixed in Karmic with the system-tools-backends 2.8.2 (see bug 443312).

[Jaya (jayachandranm)]

"Fix Released" -> Does it mean the final Karmic release comes with this fix included? I am running a 64-bit version of Karmic, the final release, released on 30 Oct. I face the same problem as reported by Gijs (not able to change time using time-admin) and his work around also works for me. Do I have to download this fix from somewhere and patch it separately?

[Ioannis Vranos (cppdeveloper)]

On Wed, 2009-11-04 at 13:24 +0000, Jaya wrote:
> "Fix Released" -> Does it mean the final Karmic release comes with this
> fix included? I am running a 64-bit version of Karmic, the final
> release, released on 30 Oct. I face the same problem as reported by Gijs
> (not able to change time using time-admin) and his work around also
> works for me. Do I have to download this fix from somewhere and patch it
> separately?

I have clean installed Ubuntu 9.10 x64 from alternative installer CD,
and the time-admin displays the correct time zone for me.

Did you perform a clean install, or an upgrade?

--
Ioannis Vranos

C95 / C++03 Software Developer

http://www.cpp-software.net

[Milan Bouchet-Valat (nalimilan)]

Jaya: Please check that you have the system-tools-backends 2.8.2 installed. You can use 'apt-cache policy system-tools-backends' to check that. If that's the case, please open a new bug, since you may be experiencing another problem. Thanks!