Package: apt
Version: 1.4.9
Severity: normal

Dear Maintainer,

Severity note: This appears to be relatively trivial problem in its impact 
on the system.  However, it has two possible more serious consequences:
1. The logs will end up taking a lot of space because of the constant messges.
2. The repeated randomization may end up producing really wild random numbers,
as a result of which the timers may fire either way too fast or way too slow.

The log spam also makes it more difficult to identify interesting things in the 
log (I know 
there are ways around that), and the whole process must impose some performance 
penalty.

   * What led up to the situation?
After a recent upgrade to stretch, my logs are filled with messages like this
Apr 19 12:38:27 ross-mail systemd[1]: apt-daily.timer: Adding 9h 57min 
34.907602s random time.
Apr 19 12:38:27 ross-mail systemd[1]: apt-daily-upgrade.timer: Adding 51min 
17.211953s random time.
Apr 19 12:38:32 ross-mail systemd[1]: Time has been changed
Apr 19 12:38:32 ross-mail systemd[1]: apt-daily.timer: Adding 11h 36min 
18.852889s random time.
Apr 19 12:38:32 ross-mail systemd[1]: apt-daily-upgrade.timer: Adding 7min 
19.203357s random time.
Apr 19 12:38:37 ross-mail systemd[1]: Time has been changed
Apr 19 12:38:37 ross-mail systemd[1]: apt-daily.timer: Adding 11h 4min 
53.484274s random time.
Apr 19 12:38:37 ross-mail systemd[1]: apt-daily-upgrade.timer: Adding 4min 
43.246953s random time.
Apr 19 12:38:42 ross-mail systemd[1]: Time has been changed
Apr 19 12:38:42 ross-mail systemd[1]: apt-daily.timer: Adding 6h 27min 
36.345186s random time.
Apr 19 12:38:42 ross-mail systemd[1]: apt-daily-upgrade.timer: Adding 15min 
43.087263s random time.
Apr 19 12:38:47 ross-mail systemd[1]: Time has been changed
Apr 19 12:38:47 ross-mail systemd[1]: apt-daily.timer: Adding 4h 46min 
3.780698s random time.
Apr 19 12:38:47 ross-mail systemd[1]: apt-daily-upgrade.timer: Adding 2min 
25.572155s random time.
Apr 19 12:38:52 ross-mail systemd[1]: Time has been changed
Apr 19 12:38:52 ross-mail systemd[1]: apt-daily.timer: Adding 6h 54min 
42.591556s random time.
Apr 19 12:38:52 ross-mail systemd[1]: apt-daily-upgrade.timer: Adding 18min 
42.538730s random time.
Apr 19 12:38:57 ross-mail systemd[1]: Time has been changed
Apr 19 12:38:57 ross-mail systemd[1]: apt-daily.timer: Adding 40min 9.786990s 
random time.
repeating endlessly.

The system is running under HyperV, which I gather resets the clock every 5 
seconds.

   * What exactly did you do (or not do) that was effective (or
     ineffective)?
Searching turned up Debian bug 600262, which sounds similar.  However, the 
solution
to it was to switch to the systemd timer, which seems to be source of the 
current problem.

https://askubuntu.com/questions/888493/var-log-syslog-systemd1-time-has-been-changed-message-every-5-seconds/890354#890354?newreg=0c5a628a4d8a4809a9298176c94d004e
reports a similar problem.  The top-rated solution is to disable the time 
update in HyperV.  Apart from the fact that I lack
the necessary rights, this seems liable to cause clock drift.

An alternate solution is to modify the filters for the log file to keep out the 
messages.
This is probably what I'll do, though I'm not sure the mechanics are is given 
there.
The suggestion modified /etc/rsyslog.d/, and I thought systemd was now doing 
the logging.

The same alternate solution says another alternative is to disable host time 
sync on VMBUS.  
It's not explained, and once again completely breaking the connection seems 
extreme.

   * What was the outcome of this action?
Nothing done yet.  If I succeed in quieting the log, I'll still have the 
repeated timer updates.
I do not know if the repeated random times are additive, or simply replace the 
previous one.
In the former case, the effects seem likely to be bad.  E.g., if the times 
added accumulate,
the timer may never fire.

   * What outcome did you expect instead?
   I would like for my VM time to remain syncronized with the host,
   for my log not to be filled a huge number of junk messages,
   and for the random timers to be reset just once.


-- Package-specific info:

-- apt-config dump --

APT "";
APT::Architecture "amd64";
APT::Build-Essential "";
APT::Build-Essential:: "build-essential";
APT::Install-Recommends "1";
APT::Install-Suggests "0";
APT::Sandbox "";
APT::Sandbox::User "_apt";
APT::Authentication "";
APT::Authentication::TrustCDROM "true";
APT::NeverAutoRemove "";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^firmware-linux.*";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-firmware$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-image-4\.9\.0-8-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-image-4\.9\.0-9-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-headers-4\.9\.0-8-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-headers-4\.9\.0-9-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-image-extra-4\.9\.0-8-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-image-extra-4\.9\.0-9-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-signed-image-4\.9\.0-8-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-signed-image-4\.9\.0-9-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^kfreebsd-image-4\.9\.0-8-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^kfreebsd-image-4\.9\.0-9-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^kfreebsd-headers-4\.9\.0-8-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^kfreebsd-headers-4\.9\.0-9-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^gnumach-image-4\.9\.0-8-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^gnumach-image-4\.9\.0-9-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^.*-modules-4\.9\.0-8-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^.*-modules-4\.9\.0-9-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^.*-kernel-4\.9\.0-8-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^.*-kernel-4\.9\.0-9-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-backports-modules-.*-4\.9\.0-8-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-backports-modules-.*-4\.9\.0-9-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-tools-4\.9\.0-8-amd64$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-tools-4\.9\.0-9-amd64$";
APT::VersionedKernelPackages "";
APT::VersionedKernelPackages:: "linux-image";
APT::VersionedKernelPackages:: "linux-headers";
APT::VersionedKernelPackages:: "linux-image-extra";
APT::VersionedKernelPackages:: "linux-signed-image";
APT::VersionedKernelPackages:: "kfreebsd-image";
APT::VersionedKernelPackages:: "kfreebsd-headers";
APT::VersionedKernelPackages:: "gnumach-image";
APT::VersionedKernelPackages:: ".*-modules";
APT::VersionedKernelPackages:: ".*-kernel";
APT::VersionedKernelPackages:: "linux-backports-modules-.*";
APT::VersionedKernelPackages:: "linux-tools";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections "";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "metapackages";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "contrib/metapackages";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "non-free/metapackages";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "restricted/metapackages";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "universe/metapackages";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "multiverse/metapackages";
APT::Move-Autobit-Sections "";
APT::Move-Autobit-Sections:: "oldlibs";
APT::Move-Autobit-Sections:: "contrib/oldlibs";
APT::Move-Autobit-Sections:: "non-free/oldlibs";
APT::Move-Autobit-Sections:: "restricted/oldlibs";
APT::Move-Autobit-Sections:: "universe/oldlibs";
APT::Move-Autobit-Sections:: "multiverse/oldlibs";
APT::Update "";
APT::Update::Post-Invoke-Success "";
APT::Update::Post-Invoke-Success:: "test -x /usr/bin/apt-show-versions || exit 
0 ; apt-show-versions -i";
APT::Update::Post-Invoke "";
APT::Update::Post-Invoke:: "[ ! -x /usr/bin/debtags ] || debtags update || 
true";
APT::Architectures "";
APT::Architectures:: "amd64";
APT::Compressor "";
APT::Compressor::. "";
APT::Compressor::.::Name ".";
APT::Compressor::.::Extension "";
APT::Compressor::.::Binary "";
APT::Compressor::.::Cost "0";
APT::Compressor::lz4 "";
APT::Compressor::lz4::Name "lz4";
APT::Compressor::lz4::Extension ".lz4";
APT::Compressor::lz4::Binary "false";
APT::Compressor::lz4::Cost "50";
APT::Compressor::gzip "";
APT::Compressor::gzip::Name "gzip";
APT::Compressor::gzip::Extension ".gz";
APT::Compressor::gzip::Binary "gzip";
APT::Compressor::gzip::Cost "100";
APT::Compressor::gzip::CompressArg "";
APT::Compressor::gzip::CompressArg:: "-6n";
APT::Compressor::gzip::UncompressArg "";
APT::Compressor::gzip::UncompressArg:: "-d";
APT::Compressor::xz "";
APT::Compressor::xz::Name "xz";
APT::Compressor::xz::Extension ".xz";
APT::Compressor::xz::Binary "xz";
APT::Compressor::xz::Cost "200";
APT::Compressor::xz::CompressArg "";
APT::Compressor::xz::CompressArg:: "-6";
APT::Compressor::xz::UncompressArg "";
APT::Compressor::xz::UncompressArg:: "-d";
APT::Compressor::bzip2 "";
APT::Compressor::bzip2::Name "bzip2";
APT::Compressor::bzip2::Extension ".bz2";
APT::Compressor::bzip2::Binary "bzip2";
APT::Compressor::bzip2::Cost "300";
APT::Compressor::bzip2::CompressArg "";
APT::Compressor::bzip2::CompressArg:: "-6";
APT::Compressor::bzip2::UncompressArg "";
APT::Compressor::bzip2::UncompressArg:: "-d";
APT::Compressor::lzma "";
APT::Compressor::lzma::Name "lzma";
APT::Compressor::lzma::Extension ".lzma";
APT::Compressor::lzma::Binary "xz";
APT::Compressor::lzma::Cost "400";
APT::Compressor::lzma::CompressArg "";
APT::Compressor::lzma::CompressArg:: "--format=lzma";
APT::Compressor::lzma::CompressArg:: "-6";
APT::Compressor::lzma::UncompressArg "";
APT::Compressor::lzma::UncompressArg:: "--format=lzma";
APT::Compressor::lzma::UncompressArg:: "-d";
Dir "/";
Dir::State "var/lib/apt";
Dir::State::lists "lists/";
Dir::State::cdroms "cdroms.list";
Dir::State::mirrors "mirrors/";
Dir::State::extended_states "extended_states";
Dir::State::status "/var/lib/dpkg/status";
Dir::Cache "var/cache/apt";
Dir::Cache::archives "archives/";
Dir::Cache::srcpkgcache "srcpkgcache.bin";
Dir::Cache::pkgcache "pkgcache.bin";
Dir::Etc "etc/apt";
Dir::Etc::sourcelist "sources.list";
Dir::Etc::sourceparts "sources.list.d";
Dir::Etc::main "apt.conf";
Dir::Etc::netrc "auth.conf";
Dir::Etc::parts "apt.conf.d";
Dir::Etc::preferences "preferences";
Dir::Etc::preferencesparts "preferences.d";
Dir::Etc::trusted "trusted.gpg";
Dir::Etc::trustedparts "trusted.gpg.d";
Dir::Bin "";
Dir::Bin::methods "/usr/lib/apt/methods";
Dir::Bin::solvers "";
Dir::Bin::solvers:: "/usr/lib/apt/solvers";
Dir::Bin::planners "";
Dir::Bin::planners:: "/usr/lib/apt/planners";
Dir::Bin::dpkg "/usr/bin/dpkg";
Dir::Bin::gzip "/bin/gzip";
Dir::Bin::bzip2 "/bin/bzip2";
Dir::Bin::xz "/usr/bin/xz";
Dir::Bin::lz4 "/usr/bin/lz4";
Dir::Bin::lzma "/usr/bin/xz";
Dir::Media "";
Dir::Media::MountPath "/media/cdrom";
Dir::Log "var/log/apt";
Dir::Log::Terminal "term.log";
Dir::Log::History "history.log";
Dir::Log::Planner "eipp.log.xz";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently "";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently:: "~$";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently:: "\.disabled$";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently:: "\.bak$";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently:: "\.dpkg-[a-z]+$";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently:: "\.ucf-[a-z]+$";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently:: "\.save$";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently:: "\.orig$";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently:: "\.distUpgrade$";
Acquire "";
Acquire::AllowInsecureRepositories "0";
Acquire::AllowWeakRepositories "0";
Acquire::AllowDowngradeToInsecureRepositories "0";
Acquire::cdrom "";
Acquire::cdrom::mount "/media/cdrom";
Acquire::IndexTargets "";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb "";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb::Packages "";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb::Packages::MetaKey 
"$(COMPONENT)/binary-$(ARCHITECTURE)/Packages";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb::Packages::flatMetaKey "Packages";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb::Packages::ShortDescription "Packages";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb::Packages::Description "$(RELEASE)/$(COMPONENT) 
$(ARCHITECTURE) Packages";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb::Packages::flatDescription "$(RELEASE) Packages";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb::Packages::Optional "0";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb::Translations "";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb::Translations::MetaKey 
"$(COMPONENT)/i18n/Translation-$(LANGUAGE)";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb::Translations::flatMetaKey "$(LANGUAGE)";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb::Translations::ShortDescription 
"Translation-$(LANGUAGE)";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb::Translations::Description "$(RELEASE)/$(COMPONENT) 
Translation-$(LANGUAGE)";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb::Translations::flatDescription "$(RELEASE) 
Translation-$(LANGUAGE)";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb-src "";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb-src::Sources "";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb-src::Sources::MetaKey "$(COMPONENT)/source/Sources";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb-src::Sources::flatMetaKey "Sources";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb-src::Sources::ShortDescription "Sources";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb-src::Sources::Description "$(RELEASE)/$(COMPONENT) 
Sources";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb-src::Sources::flatDescription "$(RELEASE) Sources";
Acquire::IndexTargets::deb-src::Sources::Optional "0";
Acquire::Changelogs "";
Acquire::Changelogs::URI "";
Acquire::Changelogs::URI::Origin "";
Acquire::Changelogs::URI::Origin::Debian 
"http://metadata.ftp-master.debian.org/changelogs/@CHANGEPATH@_changelog";;
Acquire::Changelogs::URI::Origin::Tanglu 
"http://metadata.tanglu.org/changelogs/@CHANGEPATH@_changelog";;
Acquire::Changelogs::URI::Origin::Ubuntu 
"http://changelogs.ubuntu.com/changelogs/pool/@CHANGEPATH@/changelog";;
Acquire::Changelogs::URI::Origin::Ultimedia 
"http://packages.ultimediaos.com/changelogs/pool/@CHANGEPATH@/changelog.txt";;
Acquire::Changelogs::AlwaysOnline "";
Acquire::Changelogs::AlwaysOnline::Origin "";
Acquire::Changelogs::AlwaysOnline::Origin::Ubuntu "1";
Acquire::Languages "";
Acquire::Languages:: "en";
Acquire::Languages:: "none";
Acquire::CompressionTypes "";
Acquire::CompressionTypes::xz "xz";
Acquire::CompressionTypes::bz2 "bzip2";
Acquire::CompressionTypes::lzma "lzma";
Acquire::CompressionTypes::gz "gzip";
Acquire::CompressionTypes::lz4 "lz4";
Aptitude "";
Aptitude::Get-Root-Command "sudo:/usr/bin/sudo";
DPkg "";
DPkg::Pre-Invoke "";
DPkg::Pre-Invoke:: "if [ -x /usr/bin/etckeeper ]; then etckeeper pre-install; 
fi";
DPkg::Post-Invoke "";
DPkg::Post-Invoke:: "if [ -x /usr/bin/etckeeper ]; then etckeeper post-install; 
fi";
DPkg::Post-Invoke:: "if test -x /usr/share/dhelp/scripts/index-deferred; then 
/usr/share/dhelp/scripts/index-deferred; fi";
DPkg::Pre-Install-Pkgs "";
DPkg::Pre-Install-Pkgs:: "/usr/bin/apt-listchanges --apt || test $? -lt 10";
DPkg::Pre-Install-Pkgs:: "/usr/sbin/dpkg-preconfigure --apt || true";
DPkg::Tools "";
DPkg::Tools::Options "";
DPkg::Tools::Options::/usr/bin/apt-listchanges "";
DPkg::Tools::Options::/usr/bin/apt-listchanges::Version "2";
DPkg::Tools::Options::/usr/bin/apt-listchanges::InfoFD "20";
RPM "";
RPM::Pre-Invoke "";
RPM::Pre-Invoke:: "if [ -x /usr/bin/etckeeper ]; then etckeeper pre-install; 
fi";
RPM::Post-Invoke "";
RPM::Post-Invoke:: "if [ -x /usr/bin/etckeeper ]; then etckeeper post-install; 
fi";
Binary "apt-config";
Binary::apt "";
Binary::apt::APT "";
Binary::apt::APT::Color "1";
Binary::apt::APT::Cache "";
Binary::apt::APT::Cache::Show "";
Binary::apt::APT::Cache::Show::Version "2";
Binary::apt::APT::Cache::AllVersions "0";
Binary::apt::APT::Cache::ShowVirtuals "1";
Binary::apt::APT::Cache::Search "";
Binary::apt::APT::Cache::Search::Version "2";
Binary::apt::APT::Cache::ShowDependencyType "1";
Binary::apt::APT::Cache::ShowVersion "1";
Binary::apt::APT::Get "";
Binary::apt::APT::Get::Upgrade-Allow-New "1";
Binary::apt::APT::Cmd "";
Binary::apt::APT::Cmd::Show-Update-Stats "1";
Binary::apt::APT::Keep-Downloaded-Packages "0";
Binary::apt::DPkg "";
Binary::apt::DPkg::Progress-Fancy "1";
Binary::apt-get "";
Binary::apt-get::Acquire "";
Binary::apt-get::Acquire::AllowInsecureRepositories "1";
CommandLine "";
CommandLine::AsString "apt-config dump";

-- (no /etc/apt/preferences present) --


-- (no /etc/apt/preferences.d/* present) --


-- /etc/apt/sources.list --

deb http://mirrors.ocf.berkeley.edu/debian stretch main contrib non-free
deb-src http://mirrors.ocf.berkeley.edu/debian stretch main contrib non-free

deb http://security.debian.org/ stretch/updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ stretch/updates main contrib non-free

deb http://mirrors.ocf.berkeley.edu/debian stretch-updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://mirrors.ocf.berkeley.edu/debian stretch-updates main contrib 
non-free

deb http://mirrors.ocf.berkeley.edu/debian stretch-proposed-updates main 
contrib non-free
deb-src http://mirrors.ocf.berkeley.edu/debian stretch-proposed-updates main 
contrib non-free

-- (no /etc/apt/sources.list.d/* present) --


-- System Information:
Debian Release: 9.8
  APT prefers stable-updates
  APT policy: (500, 'stable-updates'), (500, 'proposed-updates'), (500, 
'stable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 4.9.0-8-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), 
LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)

Versions of packages apt depends on:
ii  adduser                 3.115
ii  debian-archive-keyring  2017.5
ii  gpgv                    2.1.18-8~deb9u4
ii  init-system-helpers     1.48
ii  libapt-pkg5.0           1.4.9
ii  libc6                   2.24-11+deb9u4
ii  libgcc1                 1:6.3.0-18+deb9u1
ii  libstdc++6              6.3.0-18+deb9u1

Versions of packages apt recommends:
ii  gnupg   2.1.18-8~deb9u4
ii  gnupg2  2.1.18-8~deb9u4

Versions of packages apt suggests:
ii  apt-doc         1.4.9
ii  aptitude        0.8.7-1
ii  dpkg-dev        1.18.25
pn  powermgmt-base  <none>
ii  python-apt      1.4.0~beta3

-- no debconf information

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