Bug#1069265: tzdata: Upgrade from 2023c-2 to 2024 corrupts zoneinfo files

[Plasma (David Paul)]

On Thu, 18 Apr 2024 23:39:14 + IvanAbs  wrote:
> On 2024-04-17 several of my servers running Debian 10 received an
> update for the tzdata package via Debian unattended-upgrade. However,
> this update resulted in corruption of files within the
> /usr/share/zoneinfo directory.

I, too, encountered a variation of this issue today while trying to
update the tzdata package on my system. I was eventually able to resolve
the issue with a little manual intervention. Details follow.

> I was using tzdata 2023c-2 package, and originally installed from an
> official Debian source

In my case, the installed version of the package was tzdata 2023c-5.

> I installed tzdata 2023c-2 with dpkg -i, because our severs needs the
> last-year updated data, but there were not a release for Debian 10,
> until yesterday.

Similarly, I had installed tzdata 2023c-5 on what is effectively Debian
Bullseye install (though what is actually an unabashed FrankenDevuan
install that is mostly composed of packages from Devuan's Chimaera
release). My motivation for doing so was similar: I wanted the
then-current timezone database and the package in chimaera/bullseye had
yet to be updated. I fully acknowledge this course of action is
actively frowned upon[1].

[1] https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian#Don.27t_make_a_FrankenDebian

> To resolve this issue, I had to completely remove the tzdata 2023
> version and perform a clean installation of the new tzdata 2024
> version.

Here's how I was able to resolve the issue. Using snapshot.debian.org,
I downloaded tzdata_2023d-1_all.deb which installed without issue over
2023c-5. Afterward, I was able to install tzdata 2024a-0+deb11u1
without issue.

As this issue only manifests on systems in explicitly unsupported
configurations, the severity of the bug should probably be reduced from
grave, but I will leave that decision to others.

I hope this was helpful,

-- 
Plasma

Bug#1069265: tzdata: Upgrade from 2023c-2 to 2024 corrupts zoneinfo files

[IvanAbs]

Package: tzdata
Version: 2023c-2
Severity: grave
Tags: d-i upstream
Justification: renders package unusable

Dear Maintainer,

On 2024-04-17 several of my servers running Debian 10 received an update for 
the tzdata package via Debian unattended-upgrade.
However, this update resulted in corruption of files within the 
/usr/share/zoneinfo directory. As a consequence, the OS was unable to read 
these files, causing other processes (such as PHP) to fail when attempting to 
access timezone information.

I was using tzdata 2023c-2 package, and originally installed from an official 
Debian source, but for a reason that I don't know (but I suspect now), the URL 
"http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/t/tzdata/tzdata_2023c-2_all.deb; 
currently returns a 404 error.

I installed tzdata 2023c-2 with dpkg -i, because our severs needs the last-year 
updated data, but there were not a release for Debian 10, until yesterday.

To resolve this issue, I had to completely remove the tzdata 2023 version and 
perform a clean installation of the new tzdata 2024 version.

For reference, here is the error message encountered during the update, along 
with steps to reproduce it:

Steps:
1. Install tzdata 2023c-2 on a Debian 10 system with dpkg -i
2. Upgrade to tzdata 2024 via apt
3. You will get the error


root@669e2db7c3d5:/# apt search tzdata
Sorting... Done
Full Text Search... Done
tzdata/oldoldstable 2024a-0+deb10u1 all [upgradable from: 2023c-2]
  time zone and daylight-saving time data

root@669e2db7c3d5:/# export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
root@669e2db7c3d5:/# apt install tzdata
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be upgraded:
  tzdata
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 283 kB of archives.
After this operation, 788 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://deb.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates/main amd64 tzdata 
all 2024a-0+deb10u1 [283 kB]
Fetched 283 kB in 0s (993 kB/s)
debconf: delaying package configuration, since apt-utils is not installed
(Reading database ... 11086 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../tzdata_2024a-0+deb10u1_all.deb ...
Unpacking tzdata (2024a-0+deb10u1) over (2023c-2) ...
dpkg: error processing archive 
/var/cache/apt/archives/tzdata_2024a-0+deb10u1_all.deb (--unpack):
 unable to install new version of '/usr/share/zoneinfo/posix/Africa/Abidjan': 
No such file or directory
dpkg: error while cleaning up:
 installed tzdata package post-installation script subprocess returned error 
exit status 10
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/tzdata_2024a-0+deb10u1_all.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
root@669e2db7c3d5:/#

Thanks in advance.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 10.13
  APT prefers oldoldstable-updates
  APT policy: (500, 'oldoldstable-updates'), (500, 'oldoldstable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 5.15.146.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2 (SMP w/3 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=C.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE=C (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: unable to detect

Versions of packages tzdata depends on:
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]  1.5.71+deb10u1

tzdata recommends no packages.

tzdata suggests no packages.

-- debconf information:
  tzdata/Zones/America:
  tzdata/Zones/SystemV:
  tzdata/Zones/Indian:
  tzdata/Zones/US:
  tzdata/Zones/Arctic:
* tzdata/Areas: Etc
* tzdata/Zones/Etc: UTC
  tzdata/Zones/Pacific:
  tzdata/Zones/Australia:
  tzdata/Zones/Asia:
  tzdata/Zones/Africa:
  tzdata/Zones/Atlantic:
  tzdata/Zones/Antarctica:
  tzdata/Zones/Europe: