Package: sun-java5-jre Version: 1.5.0-10-3 Severity: important *** Please type your report below this line ***
The default system timezone is detected incorrectly under Etch. The system is configured for "US/Pacific", however Java reports "SystemV/PST8PDT". The latter timezone doesn't have the correct DST settings in Java, so incorrect time is displayed. Steps to reproduce: - Configure the system timezone to US/Pacific - In Java execute: System.out.println( java.util.TimeZone.getDefault().getDisplayName() ); It will show "SystemV/PST8PDT" - In Java execute "System.out.println( new java.util.Date() );". It currently prints the incorrect time. It will probably start printing correctly again soon, when we enter the old (pre-2007) DST period. I noticed that /etc/localtime is no longer a link in Etch. I changed it back to a symbolic link to "/usr/share/zoneinfo/US/Pacific" and Java started working correctly again. My conclusion is that Sun JVM relies on the _path and name of the zone file_ to determine the zoneID (which it then matches to its own timezone database). However since in Etch the file is no longer a link, so they must be comparing it binary against all files under "/usr/share/zoneinfo". "/usr/share/zoneinfo/SystemV/PST8PDT" is the same file binary as ""/usr/share/zoneinfo/US/Pacific", however it is found first ! To confirm this I restored "/etc/localtime" to its non-link state, and deleted all directories under "/usr/share/zoneinfo" except "US". Voila ! Java worked again. I am not sure what the proper fix is. Obviously we cannot fix the Java library until they finally release it under GPL (which they are not planning for 1.5). I don't know why /etc/locatime was changed to non-link, but it doesn't make a lot of sense to file this as a bug under libc or tzdata. At least the workarounds should be documented: - Set the TZ environment variable (but it can't be done globally) - Use "-Duser.timezone=xxx" Lastly, Sun may fix this. I will try reporting it there as well. This problem Java software semi-unusable under Etch without modifications, so I think it merits important severity, if not higher. -- System Information: Debian Release: 4.0 APT prefers testing APT policy: (500, 'testing') Architecture: i386 (i686) Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash Kernel: Linux 2.6.18-4-686 Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8) -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
