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Bug#1040251: debian-installer: Add UTC timezone selection for all locales
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Brent Kolasinski
Jul 3, 2023, 5:30:03 PM7/3/23
to
Package: debian-installer
Version: 20230607
Severity: wishlist
Tags: d-i
X-Debbugs-Cc: b...@brentk.io
Dear Maintainer,
* What led up to the situation?
When using the text based debian installer, I would like to be able to
choose the UTC timezone (etc/UTC) as an option for my timezone. When
the timezones are displayed for selection, a set of timezones are
displayed based on the user's locale selection. Users should have the
option of selecting UTC in addition to the options present in their
locale.
* What exactly did you do (or not do) that was effective (or
ineffective)?
When choosing en_us for my locale during installation, I am only presented
with US specific time zones. If only presenting timezone associated with
the users locale, UTC should also be present, as folks use UTC in many
server deployments, regardless of their actual locale setting.
* What was the outcome of this action?
No UTC option is available in the installer.
* What outcome did you expect instead?
To have the UTC timezone available in addition to the locale specific
timezones.
In addition to the notes above, if using a preseed file, the timezone can
be specified regardless of local information. This is specifically for
interactive text based installation, where the system owner may want to
use UTC instead of a local time zone.
./brent
-- System Information:
Debian Release: 12.0
APT prefers stable-security
APT policy: (500, 'stable-security'), (500, 'stable')
Architecture: arm64 (aarch64)
Kernel: Linux 6.1.0-9-arm64 (SMP w/1 CPU thread)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE not set
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
LSM: AppArmor: enabled
-- no debconf information
Version: 20230607
Severity: wishlist
Tags: d-i
X-Debbugs-Cc: b...@brentk.io
Dear Maintainer,
* What led up to the situation?
When using the text based debian installer, I would like to be able to
choose the UTC timezone (etc/UTC) as an option for my timezone. When
the timezones are displayed for selection, a set of timezones are
displayed based on the user's locale selection. Users should have the
option of selecting UTC in addition to the options present in their
locale.
* What exactly did you do (or not do) that was effective (or
ineffective)?
When choosing en_us for my locale during installation, I am only presented
with US specific time zones. If only presenting timezone associated with
the users locale, UTC should also be present, as folks use UTC in many
server deployments, regardless of their actual locale setting.
* What was the outcome of this action?
No UTC option is available in the installer.
* What outcome did you expect instead?
To have the UTC timezone available in addition to the locale specific
timezones.
In addition to the notes above, if using a preseed file, the timezone can
be specified regardless of local information. This is specifically for
interactive text based installation, where the system owner may want to
use UTC instead of a local time zone.
./brent
-- System Information:
Debian Release: 12.0
APT prefers stable-security
APT policy: (500, 'stable-security'), (500, 'stable')
Architecture: arm64 (aarch64)
Kernel: Linux 6.1.0-9-arm64 (SMP w/1 CPU thread)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE not set
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
LSM: AppArmor: enabled
-- no debconf information
Cyril Brulebois
Jul 3, 2023, 5:40:07 PM7/3/23
to
Hi Brent,
Brent Kolasinski <b...@brentk.io> (2023-07-03):
option. Have you tried that?
For normal installs and users selecting a country with a unique
timezone, I'm not sure we want to actively add a prompt to make them
pick between that unique timezone and UTC… so I think that should only
happen in expert mode.
Cheers,
--
Cyril Brulebois (ki...@debian.org) <https://debamax.com/>
D-I release manager -- Release team member -- Freelance Consultant
Brent Kolasinski <b...@brentk.io> (2023-07-03):
> * What led up to the situation?
> When using the text based debian installer, I would like to be able to
> choose the UTC timezone (etc/UTC) as an option for my timezone. When
> the timezones are displayed for selection, a set of timezones are
> displayed based on the user's locale selection. Users should have the
> option of selecting UTC in addition to the options present in their
> locale.
> * What exactly did you do (or not do) that was effective (or
> ineffective)?
> When choosing en_us for my locale during installation, I am only presented
> with US specific time zones. If only presenting timezone associated with
> the users locale, UTC should also be present, as folks use UTC in many
> server deployments, regardless of their actual locale setting.
> * What was the outcome of this action?
> No UTC option is available in the installer.
> * What outcome did you expect instead?
> To have the UTC timezone available in addition to the locale specific
> timezones.
>
> In addition to the notes above, if using a preseed file, the timezone can
> be specified regardless of local information. This is specifically for
> interactive text based installation, where the system owner may want to
> use UTC instead of a local time zone.
Looks like something that should be possible via the expert install
> When using the text based debian installer, I would like to be able to
> choose the UTC timezone (etc/UTC) as an option for my timezone. When
> the timezones are displayed for selection, a set of timezones are
> displayed based on the user's locale selection. Users should have the
> option of selecting UTC in addition to the options present in their
> locale.
> * What exactly did you do (or not do) that was effective (or
> ineffective)?
> When choosing en_us for my locale during installation, I am only presented
> with US specific time zones. If only presenting timezone associated with
> the users locale, UTC should also be present, as folks use UTC in many
> server deployments, regardless of their actual locale setting.
> * What was the outcome of this action?
> No UTC option is available in the installer.
> * What outcome did you expect instead?
> To have the UTC timezone available in addition to the locale specific
> timezones.
>
> In addition to the notes above, if using a preseed file, the timezone can
> be specified regardless of local information. This is specifically for
> interactive text based installation, where the system owner may want to
> use UTC instead of a local time zone.
option. Have you tried that?
For normal installs and users selecting a country with a unique
timezone, I'm not sure we want to actively add a prompt to make them
pick between that unique timezone and UTC… so I think that should only
happen in expert mode.
Cheers,
--
Cyril Brulebois (ki...@debian.org) <https://debamax.com/>
D-I release manager -- Release team member -- Freelance Consultant
Brent Kolasinski
Jul 3, 2023, 6:10:04 PM7/3/23
to
Hi Cyril,
Expert Installation provides the behavior I was looking for, specifically adding the extra option of UTC at the end of local timezones.
There does seem to be quite a few extra steps involved in the expert install vs the normal install, especially if the only reason you are running expert mode is to just set the timezone to UTC.
However, I do notice the non-expert installer is opinionated about a lot of options vs the expert installer, so if this has been decided as a feature folks don't normally use - then I think it is OK to be relegated to the expert installer (or have someone just use the preseed with the correct value / set the TZ post installation via configuration management or a `dpkg-reconfigure tzdata`).
Appreciate the fast response.
./brent
------- Original Message -------
Expert Installation provides the behavior I was looking for, specifically adding the extra option of UTC at the end of local timezones.
There does seem to be quite a few extra steps involved in the expert install vs the normal install, especially if the only reason you are running expert mode is to just set the timezone to UTC.
However, I do notice the non-expert installer is opinionated about a lot of options vs the expert installer, so if this has been decided as a feature folks don't normally use - then I think it is OK to be relegated to the expert installer (or have someone just use the preseed with the correct value / set the TZ post installation via configuration management or a `dpkg-reconfigure tzdata`).
Appreciate the fast response.
./brent
------- Original Message -------
Cyril Brulebois
Jul 3, 2023, 6:41:10 PM7/3/23
to
> There does seem to be quite a few extra steps involved in the expert
> install vs the normal install, especially if the only reason you are
> running expert mode is to just set the timezone to UTC.
Right. I forgot to mention a middle ground: passing time/zone=Etc/UTC on
> install vs the normal install, especially if the only reason you are
> running expert mode is to just set the timezone to UTC.
the kernel command line (instead of starting expert install) should give
you the desired results without going through all those extra steps.
(That is, stuff you would stash in a preseed file/URL can also be passed
on the kernel command line. Reading your mails, I'm not sure this is
known / has been considered already.)
Brent Kolasinski
Jul 3, 2023, 7:40:04 PM7/3/23
to
Cyril,
Even better. Thanks. Currently in the process of translating things from Red Hat land to Debian, and this is now an non-issue with this information. Appreciate the responsiveness.
I think it is safe to close this item as I have paths forward for what I am wishing to accomplish.
All the best,
./brent
------- Original Message -------
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