[SOLVED]Timezone keeps reverting to Phoenix after setting it to Denver

steven.gubler · 2017-03-22 05:35:37

Hello everyone! :D

So, I just cannot figure out what is wrong with my system clock, but it just absolutely refuses to change time zones. And yes, Phoenix and Denver are in the same "Standard" time zone, but they have daylight savings in Denver, so it that distinction is important.

Now, here's my output from my timedatectl status

      Local time: Tue 2017-03-21 22:20:57 MST
  Universal time: Wed 2017-03-22 05:20:57 UTC
        RTC time: Wed 2017-03-22 05:20:57
       Time zone: America/Phoenix (MST, -0700)
 Network time on: yes
NTP synchronized: yes
 RTC in local TZ: no

And so, naturally, I run sudo timedatectl set-timezone America/Denver

However... the clock on my desktop doesn't change... nor does the output of the command date

Tue Mar 21 22:30:02 MST 2017

Therefore, the first thing you should check is whether or not timedatectl status actually says that the timezone changed...

      Local time: Tue 2017-03-21 23:31:02 MDT
  Universal time: Wed 2017-03-22 05:31:02 UTC
        RTC time: Wed 2017-03-22 05:31:02
       Time zone: America/Denver (MDT, -0600)
 Network time on: yes
NTP synchronized: yes
 RTC in local TZ: no

Well now, that looks right... but just you wait. Give it 30 seconds or so and timedatectl status outputs:

      Local time: Tue 2017-03-21 22:31:47 MST
  Universal time: Wed 2017-03-22 05:31:47 UTC
        RTC time: Wed 2017-03-22 05:31:47
       Time zone: America/Phoenix (MST, -0700)
 Network time on: yes
NTP synchronized: yes
 RTC in local TZ: no

What. The. Junk.

Any ideas?

Last edited by steven.gubler (2017-03-24 02:44:38)

jasonwryan · 2017-03-22 05:46:56

What are you doing for time synching? What is the status of that service?

Scimmia · 2017-03-22 13:51:05

I'm guessing your DE has it's own setting and is screwing things up

steven.gubler · 2017-03-22 15:09:19

Thanks for the prompt responses!

First off...

jasonwryan wrote:

What are you doing for time synching? What is the status of that service?

Here's systemctl list-units | grep time:

  rtkit-daemon.service                                                                     loaded active running   RealtimeKit Scheduling Policy Service                                     
  systemd-timesyncd.service                                                                loaded active running   Network Time Synchronization                                              
  time-sync.target                                                                         loaded active active    System Time Synchronized                                                  
  timers.target                                                                            loaded active active    Timers                                                                    
  logrotate.timer                                                                          loaded active waiting   Daily rotation of log files                                               
  man-db.timer                                                                             loaded active waiting   Daily man-db cache update                                                 
  shadow.timer                                                                             loaded active waiting   Daily verification of password and group files                            
  systemd-tmpfiles-clean.timer                                                             loaded active waiting   Daily Cleanup of Temporary Directories

It looks okay, though I wonder why there are 2 different items that look like they deal with time synching...

Second...

Scimma wrote:

I'm guessing your DE has it's own setting and is screwing things up

That is my suspicion too. How would I check for that? (gdm/Gnome 3)

seth · 2017-03-22 21:19:38

https://help.gnome.org/misc/release-not … d-date.png

steven.gubler · 2017-03-23 02:52:56

I get the exact same behavior from the gnome preferences client as with the command line: No immediate effect on the time, and a few minutes later it switches itself back to phoenix

seth · 2017-03-23 03:04:52

The idea was to ensure to turn gnomes auto-timezone off ...

steven.gubler · 2017-03-23 03:21:14

Oh, hahaha I got you now... haha

Well, mine's not set to auto-detect my timezone so that wouldn't be it... Good suggestion though

seth · 2017-03-23 07:07:21

wild guess: disable and stop systemd-timesyncd.service and install ntp and enable/start ntpd.service instead

steven.gubler · 2017-03-23 14:22:13

Good idea, but it didn't help... I got the same resetting behavior

ewaller · 2017-03-23 14:37:06

Let's try a bigger hammer. First, does the creation date for /etc/localtime change when some unseen hand changes the timezone?
If so, try making that file read only and see if any process chokes. An indication of such might be as subtle as a log entry.

seth · 2017-03-23 15:21:16

You could probably monitor /etc/localtime using csysdig

steven.gubler · 2017-03-23 17:52:11

Apparently my /etc/localtime file doesn't change at all... Checking it before and after setting the new timezone shows that the file wasn't even touched. Probing deeper, I found something else that I missed before: when I type in the command sudo timedatectl set-timezone America/Denver, and then my password, I get

Failed to set time zone: Access denied

with the error code 0x01

If I typed in the exact same command again, I didn't get the error. (I didn't get any affirmation that the deed was done either, but I didn't get an error code so I assumed it worked that time). I tried this logged in as root too, and no difference.

After I wait for timedatectl to start listing my timezone as Phoenix again, the command gives me the error again. I think I didn't notice this before because I would try the command without sudo, it would tell me that my access was denied, so I would try it again with sudo, and it would appear as though it worked.

Either way, I'm really confused... What permissions does timedatectl need to change my timezone that root doesn't have? root is supposed to be all powerful...

R00KIE · 2017-03-23 19:34:50

What's the output of 'file /etc/localtime'?

steven.gubler · 2017-03-23 21:23:55

/etc/localtime: symbolic link to /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Phoenix

And it doesn't change at all when I set the zone.

loqs · 2017-03-23 21:40:40

What if you force it manually with

# ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Denver /etc/localtime

steven.gubler · 2017-03-23 22:17:25

Sweet! Looks like that did the trick!

If I may inquire further however, why couldn't I change that file through timedatectl?

R00KIE · 2017-03-23 22:37:59

You should have been able to do it, it works fine here and I'm guessing that it works fine for everyone else.

What you can do now is test if timedatectl now can change the symlink.

steven.gubler · 2017-03-24 02:43:38

Nope, still can't change it. Either way though, I suppose that it's "fixed". Thank you all so much!

seth · 2017-03-24 11:53:52

I'd suggest to strace timedatectl to see what fails exactly - there *is* some problem which might range beyond this symptom.

Arch Linux

#1 2017-03-22 05:35:37

[SOLVED]Timezone keeps reverting to Phoenix after setting it to Denver

#2 2017-03-22 05:46:56

Re: [SOLVED]Timezone keeps reverting to Phoenix after setting it to Denver

#3 2017-03-22 13:51:05

Re: [SOLVED]Timezone keeps reverting to Phoenix after setting it to Denver

#4 2017-03-22 15:09:19

Re: [SOLVED]Timezone keeps reverting to Phoenix after setting it to Denver

#5 2017-03-22 21:19:38

Re: [SOLVED]Timezone keeps reverting to Phoenix after setting it to Denver

#6 2017-03-23 02:52:56

Re: [SOLVED]Timezone keeps reverting to Phoenix after setting it to Denver

#7 2017-03-23 03:04:52

Re: [SOLVED]Timezone keeps reverting to Phoenix after setting it to Denver

#8 2017-03-23 03:21:14

Re: [SOLVED]Timezone keeps reverting to Phoenix after setting it to Denver

#9 2017-03-23 07:07:21

Re: [SOLVED]Timezone keeps reverting to Phoenix after setting it to Denver

#10 2017-03-23 14:22:13

Re: [SOLVED]Timezone keeps reverting to Phoenix after setting it to Denver

#11 2017-03-23 14:37:06

Re: [SOLVED]Timezone keeps reverting to Phoenix after setting it to Denver

#12 2017-03-23 15:21:16

Re: [SOLVED]Timezone keeps reverting to Phoenix after setting it to Denver

#13 2017-03-23 17:52:11

Re: [SOLVED]Timezone keeps reverting to Phoenix after setting it to Denver

#14 2017-03-23 19:34:50

Re: [SOLVED]Timezone keeps reverting to Phoenix after setting it to Denver

#15 2017-03-23 21:23:55

Re: [SOLVED]Timezone keeps reverting to Phoenix after setting it to Denver

#16 2017-03-23 21:40:40

Re: [SOLVED]Timezone keeps reverting to Phoenix after setting it to Denver

#17 2017-03-23 22:17:25

Re: [SOLVED]Timezone keeps reverting to Phoenix after setting it to Denver

#18 2017-03-23 22:37:59

Re: [SOLVED]Timezone keeps reverting to Phoenix after setting it to Denver

#19 2017-03-24 02:43:38

Re: [SOLVED]Timezone keeps reverting to Phoenix after setting it to Denver

#20 2017-03-24 11:53:52

Re: [SOLVED]Timezone keeps reverting to Phoenix after setting it to Denver

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