/etc/localtime problems

[Warner Losh]

On Oct 30, 2011, at 5:53 AM, Lev Serebryakov wrote:

> Hello, Andrey.
> You wrote 30 октября 2011 г., 15:33:49:
> 
>>>  Now, /etc/localtime is copy of one of files from
>>> /usr/share/zoneinfo. It is created at install time or with "tzsetup"
>>> utility.
>>> 
>>>  IMHO, it is bad practice. For example, Russia changed rules
>>> (cancelled Winter Time). Ok, our database was updated properly
>>> (r223629 and MFCes), but "make buildworld installworld && mergemaster"
>>> doesn't touch /etc/localtime! So, every administrator of every FreeBSD
>>> server in Russia needs not to forget to update this file manually.
>>> 
>>> It looks not good.
>>> 
>>> IMHO, /etc/localtime should be symlink (in such case "installworld"
>>> or "freebsd-update" will fix problem), or "mergemaster" should know
>>> about this file and update it too...
> 
>> I generally use symlink too, but the root of problem is that /usr mount
>> can be delayed (NFS, etc.)
>  Yep, I understand this problem, and thought about it. IMHO,
> mergemaster solution will be better, as virtually anybody uses it
> after source upgrades. But it will not help in case of binary
> upgrades :(

After the big USA DST fiasco a few years ago I thought we had a script to figure out which file was currently installed into /etc/localtime and copy the right new one over it.

Warner