Public bug reported:
Binary package hint: rdate
Hi,
I have a compelling use case that requires automated time
synchronization support in the Debian-Installer for the initial part of
an install. This is mainly due to having remote hardware that can lose
its internal clock values and having other installer services depend
upon the to-be-installed machine's clock being within a reasonable
ballpark of one another. This is markedly different from having the
clocks being synchronized after the installation has occurred and the
normal machine is up and running.
Instead of taking a messy approach of writing in support in an early or
late command, I have written a patch that adds this support to Debian-
Installer.
Attached to this bug is a debdiff patch to the rdate source package that
adds preseedable time synchronization support to the Debian-Installer.
If rdate-udeb is included in the Debian-Installer initrd, not a
requirement for this patch's inclusion, it will create a menu item
shortly after the network has been configured and ask for some basic
rdate time synchronization information. Optionally, if no timezone data
exists during the install, it will provide a means of fetching skeletal
tzinfo data from a remote host. Conceivably this can be some sort of an
intelligent http dispatch agent that determines the proper tzinfo by
means of mac or ip address or any other means. The debconf question
priorities are medium to low, so little interference is to be expected;
and again, this will only affect installers that have explicitly
included the rdate-udeb in Debian-Installer, which means only people who
have explicitly rebuilt Debian-Installer.
This is probably most useful to systems administrators and engineers who
are engaging in mass- and remote-deployment applications of Ubuntu
server and workstation.
I have tested this out with the latest Debian-Installer, and everything
appears to work as expected. I plan on submitting this upstream into
Debian within the next few weeks. Since the code freeze for the Hardy
Heron release is fast I approaching, I am submitting this patch to
Ubuntu first in hopes that it can be ushered in very quickly. I will be
working with my friends involved with Debian project to get this
included in the near future to keep the amount of delta between the two
projects low.
I have even included internationalization support in the new things that
I have added.
Let me know if you have any questions. Let's do what we can to get this
incorporated relatively quickly.
Cheers,
Matt
** Affects: rdate (Ubuntu)
Importance: Undecided
Status: New
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Preseedable Network Time Synchronization Support Needed in Debian-Installer
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/184101
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