timezone.system fails on Debian when /etc/localtime is missing (3006.26–3006.27)
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Description
Description
timezone.system fails when /etc/localtime does not exist, even though
timedatectl reports the correct timezone. Affects Debian 12 (bookworm) on arm64.
Related: #65719 (fix appears to be in 3008.x only, not backported to 3006 LTS)
Setup
- OS: Debian 12 bookworm, arm64
- Salt: 3006.26 / 3006.27 (all reproduce)
- State:
Europe/Zurich:
timezone.system
Steps to reproduce
sudo rm -f /etc/localtime
timedatectl show -p Timezone --value # still prints Europe/Zurich
sudo salt-call state.sls timezone pillar='{"timezone":"Europe/Zurich"}'
Expected
State succeeds and creates/updates /etc/localtime (or uses timedatectl as source of truth).
Actual
Unable to compare desired timezone 'Europe/Zurich' to system timezone:
Failed to read /etc/localtime to determine current timezone: No such file or directory
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start with the timezone.system state and reproduce the failure on Debian 12 after removing /etc/localtime; compare its behavior with timedatectl and review related issue #65719. Done means the state succeeds when /etc/localtime is absent and creates or updates it for the requested Europe/Zurich timezone.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- debian, linux, python
- Domain
- devops, operating-systems
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 58/100