Re: [tlug] Erratic Rsync Behavior: Coping with Multi-Booting Effects on Time-keeping

[Charles Muller <cmuller-lst@example.com>]

Regarding the problem I have been having, the present trend of this 
thread toward looking at local vs. UTC clock issues is apparently 
right on target.

Unable to bear the curiosity, I made a special trip to my office to 
take one more look at the machine from the perspective of clock 
settings, and now seem to be pretty close to identifying the problem.

The first thing I did was to check the BIOS time setting, which was 
to local Japan time.

Then I booted into Linux. For the first minute or so (until the 
first run of NTP kicked in) the system clock was reading nine hours 
ahead (i.e., instead of 4-30-17:00, it read 5-1-2:00). Then NTP 
reset the time and the desktop time display was correct.

I then edited and saved a file, and the time stamp displayed was the 
correct local time.

I then opened up Windows XP, and looked at the same file. The time 
stamp shown was 9 hours *earlier* than local time (i.e. 4-30-8:00 
am). So that seems to mean that even though the displayed time in 
Linux was local time, the time stamped on the file (at least as seen 
from Windows) was neither local nor UTC, but nine hours before local 
time.

So I checked around and (please correct me if I am wrong) it seems 
that Windows systems are set by default to local time, and setting 
them to UTC requires a registry hack of some sort. Also, my Windows 
XP is being set by NTP. I suppose it is not impossible that Windows 
is the culprit here, but since I have made no changes or reinstalls 
of Windows in a couple of years, but have indeed reinstalled Debian 
recently (pretty close to the time of the start of this problem) and 
have updated Sid recently, I am guessing the problem is in Linux.

Now, I always choose local time as an option when installing Debian 
(probably because I had some notion in the back of my mind that this 
was the best way to match with Windows) and I fairly certain I did 
this time as well. And indeed, if I check the rcS file, I find this:

#
# /etc/default/rcS
#
# Default settings for the scripts in /etc/rcS.d/
#
# For information about these variables see the rcS(5) manual page.
#
# This file belongs to the "initscripts" package.

TMPTIME=0
SULOGIN=no
DELAYLOGIN=no
UTC=no
VERBOSE=no
FSCKFIX=no
RAMRUN=no
RAMLOCK=no


So I am guessing that there is some kind of glitch in my present 
installation of Debian wherein one part of the system is acting as 
if it is set up for UTC and another part is acting as if it is set 
up as Local.

I am relieved to have pinned down the problem to this extent, as I 
now have an idea how to deal with it until I fix it. I read the 
earlier suggestion of setting both systems to UTC, but I also 
suspect that if my present system is broken in some way, that 
solution may not work until I've got it fixed.

What I will probably do, next time I go to my office, is just 
reinstall Debian and see what happens, but I also don't mind toying 
around with it a bit before that if anyone has any suggestions.

Chuck

-------------------

A. Charles Muller

University of Tokyo
Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, Faculty of Letters
Center for Evolving Humanities
7-3-1 Hongō, Bunkyō-ku
Tokyo 113-0033, Japan

Web Site: Resources for East Asian Language and Thought
http://www.acmuller.net

<acmuller[at]jj.em-net.ne.jp>

Mobile Phone: 090-9310-1787