Update configuring date and timezone.md by PackElend · Pull Request #489 · flatcar/flatcar-website

PackElend · 2025-10-08T19:02:31Z

Udpate doc to match comments in issue

added description on how configure the timezone from Butane / Ignition on Flatcar

How to use

tormath1

Thanks and sorry for the delay here, I added some comments. :)

tormath1 · 2025-10-20T12:15:42Z

+    - path: /etc/localtime
+      target: ../usr/share/zoneinfo/America/New_York
+```
+`"overwrite": true`


What' s the intention here?

I assume this is necessary if a default time zone has already been set.
I'm not sure exactly, as I use existing examples as templates.

tormath1 · 2025-10-20T12:16:53Z

+<details>
+
+<summary>Remark to other references </summary>
+
+If you come accross  https://github.com/flatcar/Flatcar/issues/491#issuecomment-908316042 and wondering whether you have to use the fields `"overwrite": true` and `"filesystem": "root"` unlike in Fedora Core OS?
+Here is the ansser: https://github.com/flatcar/Flatcar/issues/1836#issuecomment-3175310460
+
+</details>


This whole thing can be dropped. FCOS is not using Ignition 2 since years now, so no need to mention the overwrite: true / `filesystem: root" difference.

That's how the journey began.

If you start googling (or asking AI), you get a mix of old and up-to-date answers.
It's difficult to know if the things in the old examples are still needed or omitted due to other reasons, such as a slight difference in configuration.

I want to clarify things here. It always helps to give some histroical context for users not follwing a project cloelsys to keep track of such hchanges

robinschneider · 2026-03-19T06:43:51Z

@PackElend Could you please sign the commits so that the DCO task is successful?
You can find the details on how to do this here https://github.com/flatcar/flatcar-website/pull/489/checks?check_run_id=59050067166

Copilot

Pull request overview

Updates the “Configuring date and time zone” documentation to include guidance for setting the system time zone via Butane/Ignition, and adds a section describing how to share the host’s time zone configuration with containers.

Changes:

Add a new “Setting the time zone via Ignition” subsection with a Butane example that symlinks /etc/localtime.
Add a new section describing mounting /etc/localtime from the host to keep container time zones consistent.
Add a new link reference for the localtime man page (and an issue comment reference).

💡 Add Copilot custom instructions for smarter, more guided reviews. Learn how to get started.

+
+For example, you can set the time zone to `America/New_York` by using a Butane config like the following:
+
+```shell


+    - path: /etc/localtime
+      target: ../usr/share/zoneinfo/America/New_York
+```
+`"overwrite": true`


+<summary>Remark to other references </summary>
+
+If you come accross  https://github.com/flatcar/Flatcar/issues/491#issuecomment-908316042 and wondering whether you have to use the fields `"overwrite": true` and `"filesystem": "root"` unlike in Fedora Core OS?
+Here is the ansser: https://github.com/flatcar/Flatcar/issues/1836#issuecomment-3175310460


+## Time synchronization to HOST
+
+To keep in sync with the host's timezone, you can mount the timezone configuration file to Flatcar Container Linux. 
+You add the following to your mount configuration section
+


+        volumeMounts:
+        - name: localtime
+          mountPath: /etc/localtime
+      volumes:
+      - name: localtime
+        hostPath:
+          path: /etc/localtime


first draft adding - timezone - sync timezone with host - remarks to old config style Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

Signed-off-by: Flatcar Buildbot <buildbot@flatcar-linux.org> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

The /usr/lib/modules overlay is seemingly mounted too early, preventing the overlaid files from appearing despite the mount being listed. The system claims that the mount does not exist when attempting to unmount. It appears to be racing with systemd-sysext.service, so schedule it to start after that. This happens after local-fs.target, so run before sysinit.target instead. Subsequently running `systemd-sysext refresh` causes the overlay to become unmounted, but `UpheldBy` automatically mounts it again immediately afterwards. Applying mutable mode to /usr might be preferable, but that apparently requires more work. This will do in the meantime. Signed-off-by: James Le Cuirot <jlecuirot@microsoft.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

Signed-off-by: Flatcar Buildbot <buildbot@flatcar-linux.org> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

* alpha-4459.0.0 * beta-4426.1.0 * lts-4081.3.6 * stable-4230.2.3 Signed-off-by: Flatcar Buildbot <buildbot@flatcar-linux.org> Signed-off-by: Mathieu Tortuyaux <mtortuyaux@microsoft.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

Signed-off-by: James Le Cuirot <jlecuirot@microsoft.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

Signed-off-by: Meerthika <meerthikasrrajendrans@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

Signed-off-by: Mathieu Tortuyaux <mtortuyaux@microsoft.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

Signed-off-by: Flatcar Buildbot <buildbot@flatcar-linux.org> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

Bumps [actions/setup-go](https://github.com/actions/setup-go) from 5 to 6. - [Release notes](https://github.com/actions/setup-go/releases) - [Commits](actions/setup-go@v5...v6) --- updated-dependencies: - dependency-name: actions/setup-go dependency-version: '6' dependency-type: direct:production update-type: version-update:semver-major ... Signed-off-by: dependabot[bot] <support@github.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

This change adds the "overlaybd" artifact streaming sysext to the list of optional system-dependent sysexts. It also adds documentation on how to use the sysext. Signed-off-by: Thilo Fromm <thilofromm@microsoft.com> Signed-off-by: James Le Cuirot <jlecuirot@microsoft.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

Signed-off-by: Flatcar Buildbot <buildbot@flatcar-linux.org> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

few fixes Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

…imezone.md Correcting a spelling mistake. Co-authored-by: Mathieu Tortuyaux <mathieu.tortuyaux@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

…imezone.md Correcting bad copy from FCOS Co-authored-by: Mathieu Tortuyaux <mathieu.tortuyaux@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

…imezone.md Correcting a spelling mistake. Co-authored-by: Mathieu Tortuyaux <mathieu.tortuyaux@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

…imezone.md Correcting missing ":" Co-authored-by: Mathieu Tortuyaux <mathieu.tortuyaux@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

…imezone.md Correcting wrong language identifier Co-authored-by: Mathieu Tortuyaux <mathieu.tortuyaux@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

Signed-off-by: Mathieu Tortuyaux <mtortuyaux@microsoft.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

…anged The wording here suggests that Flatcar extends upstream Ignition to support cloudsigma, rackspace[-onmetal], and vagrant. This is misleading at best, as it treats them as the "metal" provider, which does nothing. The point is that a little code is needed to stop Ignition dying when the platform is really unsupported. This is now handled through bootengine rather than Ignition itself. Signed-off-by: James Le Cuirot <jlecuirot@microsoft.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

supernova isn't even present on PyPI any more. rackspace-novaclient is just broken. Signed-off-by: James Le Cuirot <jlecuirot@microsoft.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

Signed-off-by: James Le Cuirot <jlecuirot@microsoft.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

The latter are far harder to get working on any platform. Signed-off-by: James Le Cuirot <jlecuirot@microsoft.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

* It's no longer necessary to create a VDI. VBox can use VMDKs directly. * Ignition can now be used, albeit with an annoying limitation. * The OVF avoids the need to configure everything manually. * CLI-based steps are clearer than GUI-based ones. * Vagrant VirtualBox support has been dropped from Afterburn. Signed-off-by: James Le Cuirot <jlecuirot@microsoft.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

This has been tested with the latest version. Let's cover single machine usage before cluster usage. One should walk before running! Signed-off-by: James Le Cuirot <jlecuirot@microsoft.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

Signed-off-by: Flatcar Buildbot <buildbot@flatcar-linux.org> Signed-off-by: Mathieu Tortuyaux <mtortuyaux@microsoft.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

Updating according to Copilot's comments: - https://github.com/flatcar/flatcar-website/pull/489/changes#r3486735773 - https://github.com/flatcar/flatcar-website/pull/489/changes#r3486735789 - https://github.com/flatcar/flatcar-website/pull/489/changes#r3486735802 - https://github.com/flatcar/flatcar-website/pull/489/changes#r3486735813 - https://github.com/flatcar/flatcar-website/pull/489/changes#r3486735816 - https://github.com/flatcar/flatcar-website/pull/489/changes#r3486735823 Signed-off-by: Stefan Müller <stefan.mueller.83@gmail.com>

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 1 out of 1 changed files in this pull request and generated 5 comments.

+`overwrite: true` is optinal to force recreation if `/etc/localtime` already exists.
+<details>
+
+<summary>Remark to other references </summary>


+ If you come across [this older Ignition v2 example][issuecomment-908316042] and wonder whether you have to use the fields `overwrite: true` and `filesystem: root` (unlike in Fedora CoreOS):
+ See https://github.com/flatcar/Flatcar/issues/1836#issuecomment-3175310460 for details.


+
+ To keep a container's time zone in sync with the host, you can mount the host's `/etc/localtime` into the container.
+ Add the following to your mount configuration section:


+ volumeMounts:
+   - name: localtime
+     mountPath: /etc/localtime
+     readOnly: true
+ volumes:
+   - name: localtime
+     hostPath:
+       path: /etc/localtime
+       type: File


merci Copilot Signed-off-by: PackElend <stefan.mueller.83@gmail.com> Co-authored-by: Copilot Autofix powered by AI <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 1 out of 1 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

thank you Copilot for the suggested changes. All are applied Signed-off-by: PackElend <stefan.mueller.83@gmail.com> Co-authored-by: Copilot Autofix powered by AI <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 1 out of 1 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

thank you for the suggestion copilot Co-authored-by: Copilot Autofix powered by AI <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <3542031+PackElend@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 1 out of 1 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

merci copilot Co-authored-by: Copilot Autofix powered by AI <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <3542031+PackElend@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 1 out of 1 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

PackElend requested a review from a team as a code owner October 8, 2025 19:02

tormath1 reviewed Oct 20, 2025

View reviewed changes

github-actions Bot mentioned this pull request Oct 22, 2025

Monthly contributions report 2025-09-22 - 2025-10-21 flatcar/Flatcar#1927

Closed

PackElend mentioned this pull request Dec 28, 2025

Documentation: The reset and reconfiguration procedure is unclear about where it pulls the ignition file from. flatcar/Flatcar#1984

Open

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings June 27, 2026 20:30

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of PackElend June 27, 2026 20:30 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Jun 27, 2026

View reviewed changes

PackElend and others added 22 commits June 27, 2026 20:42

Update configuring-date-and-timezone.md

c355f33

first draft adding - timezone - sync timezone with host - remarks to old config style Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

chore: update Hugo to 0.149.0

d8a0617

Signed-off-by: Flatcar Buildbot <buildbot@flatcar-linux.org> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

chore: update Hugo to 0.149.1

6994a54

Signed-off-by: Flatcar Buildbot <buildbot@flatcar-linux.org> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

chore: update Hugo to 0.150.0

1144868

Signed-off-by: Flatcar Buildbot <buildbot@flatcar-linux.org> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

data: Add new Flatcar releases

4f34391

* alpha-4459.0.0 * beta-4426.1.0 * lts-4081.3.6 * stable-4230.2.3 Signed-off-by: Flatcar Buildbot <buildbot@flatcar-linux.org> Signed-off-by: Mathieu Tortuyaux <mtortuyaux@microsoft.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

raspberry-pi: Fix missing comma in Ignition JSON

f3a31dc

Signed-off-by: James Le Cuirot <jlecuirot@microsoft.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

Add: alpha.release-current qcow2 file to arm64 doc

8339494

Signed-off-by: Meerthika <meerthikasrrajendrans@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

Fix: remove fd files & add qcow code file

4a7890c

Signed-off-by: Meerthika <meerthikasrrajendrans@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

akamai: add disk size issue

c369270

Signed-off-by: Mathieu Tortuyaux <mtortuyaux@microsoft.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

kubernetes: add kubernetes 1.34 to tested versions

52eb48e

Signed-off-by: Mathieu Tortuyaux <mtortuyaux@microsoft.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

chore: update Hugo to 0.150.1

55e4f88

Signed-off-by: Flatcar Buildbot <buildbot@flatcar-linux.org> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

chore: update Hugo to 0.151.0

0064543

Signed-off-by: Flatcar Buildbot <buildbot@flatcar-linux.org> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

Update configuring-date-and-timezone.md

c126b39

few fixes Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

Update content/docs/latest/setup/customization/configuring-date-and-t…

a2db01c

…imezone.md Correcting a spelling mistake. Co-authored-by: Mathieu Tortuyaux <mathieu.tortuyaux@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

Update content/docs/latest/setup/customization/configuring-date-and-t…

cfd8288

…imezone.md Correcting bad copy from FCOS Co-authored-by: Mathieu Tortuyaux <mathieu.tortuyaux@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

Update content/docs/latest/setup/customization/configuring-date-and-t…

75e2329

…imezone.md Correcting a spelling mistake. Co-authored-by: Mathieu Tortuyaux <mathieu.tortuyaux@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

Update content/docs/latest/setup/customization/configuring-date-and-t…

22b60bf

…imezone.md Correcting missing ":" Co-authored-by: Mathieu Tortuyaux <mathieu.tortuyaux@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

Update content/docs/latest/setup/customization/configuring-date-and-t…

866ea98

…imezone.md Correcting wrong language identifier Co-authored-by: Mathieu Tortuyaux <mathieu.tortuyaux@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

docs: Clarify that http_proxy is not used for HTTPS requests

0733a0c

Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

tormath1 and others added 8 commits June 27, 2026 20:43

community-platforms: add oraclecloud

062524d

Signed-off-by: Mathieu Tortuyaux <mtortuyaux@microsoft.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

Drop all references to Rackspace as it is no longer supported

f545cd6

supernova isn't even present on PyPI any more. rackspace-novaclient is just broken. Signed-off-by: James Le Cuirot <jlecuirot@microsoft.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

Drop all references to Equinix Metal (Packet) as it will be switched off

e9856e8

Signed-off-by: James Le Cuirot <jlecuirot@microsoft.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

architectures: Suggest QEMU rather than VMware/VBox/Vagrant for testing

3b7481a

The latter are far harder to get working on any platform. Signed-off-by: James Le Cuirot <jlecuirot@microsoft.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

Refresh the Vagrant documentation

427e07d

This has been tested with the latest version. Let's cover single machine usage before cluster usage. One should walk before running! Signed-off-by: James Le Cuirot <jlecuirot@microsoft.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

chore: update Hugo to 0.163.3

5a6834d

Signed-off-by: Flatcar Buildbot <buildbot@flatcar-linux.org> Signed-off-by: Mathieu Tortuyaux <mtortuyaux@microsoft.com> Signed-off-by: PackElend <muellerstefan@gmx.net>

PackElend force-pushed the Update-configuring-date-and-timezone.md branch from eb567b8 to 5a6834d Compare June 27, 2026 20:46

PackElend and others added 2 commits June 27, 2026 22:49

Merge branch 'main' into Update-configuring-date-and-timezone.md

f09135d

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings June 28, 2026 10:01

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of PackElend June 28, 2026 10:01 View session