Ubuntu
util-linux package

hwclock --show states a timezone

Bug #105517 reported by Ian Jackson
12
This bug affects 1 person
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
util-linux (Ubuntu)
Won't Fix
Low
LaMont Jones

Bug Description

Binary package hint: util-linux

I just booted the i386 livecd 20070411. I noticed that the clock was wrong so I ran hwclock --show to display the time. It said:
  Wed 11 Apr 2007 12:18:17 PM UTC -0.874738 seconds
(copy-typed, I'm afraid).

The hardware clock does not record timezone information so it is wrong of hwclock to impute a timezone to it. This leaves me in some doubt as to whether in fact the clock is showing 12:18 or 13:18. (12:18 would be correct since this machine's hardware clock is supposed to be set to UTC.)

See original description
Tags: iso-testing
Revision history for this message
Pedro Villavicencio (pedro) wrote :

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Is this still an issue with Gutsy tribe 5?

Changed in util-linux:
status: New → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Ian Jackson (ijackson) wrote : Re: [Bug 105517] Re: hwclock --show states a timezone

Pedro Villavicencio writes ("[Bug 105517] Re: hwclock --show states a timezone"):
> Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make
> Ubuntu better. Is this still an issue with Gutsy tribe 5?

Yes. What makes you think it wouldn't be ?

root@samual15:~# hwclock --show
Fri 31 Aug 2007 17:54:22 BST -0.868067 seconds
root@samual15:~# dpkg -l util-linux
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Installed/Config-f/Unpacked/Failed-cfg/Half-inst/t-aWait/T-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Hold/Reinst-required/X=both-problems (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Description
+++-==============-==============-============================================
ii util-linux 2.13~rc3-5 Miscellaneous system utilities
root@samual15:~#

Ian.

Changed in util-linux:
status: Incomplete → New
Stéphane Graber (stgraber)
description: updated
Revision history for this message
Brian Murray (brian-murray) wrote :

I confirm that hwclock --show does display a timezone however, the man page seems to indicate that this is expected behavior.

Changed in util-linux:
importance: Undecided → Low
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Ian Jackson (ijackson) wrote :

Brian Murray writes ("[Bug 105517] Re: hwclock --show states a timezone"):
> I confirm that hwclock --show does display a timezone however, the man
> page seems to indicate that this is expected behavior.

This just means that the manpage and the program share the same
confusion.

Ian.

Revision history for this message
LaMont Jones (lamont) wrote :

This would be a gratuitous change from upstream.

Changed in util-linux:
assignee: nobody → lamont
status: Confirmed → Won't Fix
Revision history for this message
James Haigh (james.r.haigh) wrote :

It does make sense for hwclock to show a timezone. The system is configured whether the hardware clock is in UTC or localtime. It makes sense if hwclock simply reports this configured timezone.

However, it thinks my hardware clock is in BST when it is indeed in UTC, and it reports the wrong time for BST.

See: Bug #970929

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