New F11 for the XO-1 build 5-timezones

[James Cameron]

On Sat, Aug 15, 2009 at 10:24:40AM -0700, Yioryos Asprobounitis wrote:
> Well, I'm really confused about this.

Let me help with that.

> The time and timezone was OK in
> the XO after reinstalling the original syncing and through several
> reboots or shutdown/restarts (without network connection). After few
> hours off (charging) the time is all messed up again.

> The hwclock has the correct time.

This last observation probably means the clock battery has not failed.
But I don't understand how the system time would change.  I guess I need
to understand which time you are talking about.

> The /etc/localtime file after the binary content keep saying
> "EST5EDT,M3.2.0,M11.1.0" [...]

Again, that's a binary file, so don't display it ... if you must know if
it has changed, use an md5sum or the stat command ... to decode the
content of this file, use the command:

	zdump -v /etc/localtime

> Even if you copy the correct timezone file to /etc/localtime the time
> does not change and is still wrong.

Which time?  How are you reading the time?

> Selecting another timezone in the control panel changes none of the
> /etc/localtime, /etc/avahi/etc/localtime and /etc/adjtime [...]

Yes, that's true.  The control panel only changes Sugar configuration,
not system configuration.  It changes how Sugar displays the time.  The
system remains on UTC, normally.  But you said above that you changed
the system timezone yourself.

> but the time does change (always wrong time).

Which time?

> Which file does the control panel changes?

The file
/home/olpc/.gconf/desktop/sugar/date/%gconf.xml

> Test case: 'ntpdate -b' the XO and set a timezone. The time is correct but the 
> /etc/localtime file shows something different. 

I don't see any change to /etc/localtime when the Sugar control panel
timezone is changed.

> Let the XO off for some time (o/n) check the time _without_ an ntp
> update and network connection, the time is 4 hours ahead of the
> correct time. hwclock time remains correct.

This suggests that the system is failing to set the time from the
hardware clock on boot.

> /etc/localtime, /etc/avahi/etc/localtime and /etc/adjtime content does
> not change with timezone changes but time does (right or wrong).

> Is it designed to default to some specific timezone without a network
> connection?

Deployments would choose their default timezone.  It seems the default
timezone for the system on this build is a US timezone.

> And if yes what about when kids have the XO at home
> probably without a network connection? Can you have correct time
> without network?

I don't think that is a concern.  Let's focus instead on why your
observations seem unusual ... I do not expect the operating system time
to shift over several boots or a recharge.

-- 
James Cameron
http://quozl.linux.org.au/