|Severity: important|
Follow-up Note: This bug remains completely unresolved and has
progressed into the Debian 13.5.0 release, where it now causes severe
log regressions and configuration blockers.
When installing Debian 13.5.0 via the Live Image (KDE/Calamares), the
lack of an initialized systemd-timesyncd or default network time
synchronization causes a severe RTC/UTC offset on systems where the
hardware clock tracks local time.
On first boot, this breaks 'apt update' due to expired/invalid
certificates. Furthermore, once a user manually installs a tool like
'ntpsec-ntpdate' to fix the clock, the sudden time-step causes a chaotic
7-hour backward timeline regression in the system history logs.
The full behavior from the initial installer environment layout to the
post-install time correction can be explicitly observed in this excerpt
from /var/log/apt/history.log on Debian 13.5.0:
Start-Date: 2026-05-18 04:27:51
Commandline: apt-get -o APT::Status-Fd=4 -o APT::Keep-Fds::=5 -o
APT::Keep-Fds::=6 -q -y --no-remove install grub-efi-amd64
Install: mokutil:amd64 (0.7.2-1, automatic),
grub-efi-amd64-unsigned:amd64 (2.12-9+deb13u2, automatic),
grub-efi-amd64:amd64 (2.12-9+deb13u2), shim-helpers-amd64-signed:amd64
(1+15.8+1, automatic), grub-efi-amd64-signed:amd64 (1+2.12+9+deb13u2,
automatic), grub-efi-amd64-bin:amd64 (2.12-9+deb13u2, automatic),
grub2-common:amd64 (2.12-9+deb13u2, automatic), efibootmgr:amd64 (18-2,
automatic), shim-signed:amd64 (1.47+15.8-1, automatic),
shim-signed-common:amd64 (1.47+15.8-1, automatic), shim-unsigned:amd64
(15.8-1, automatic)
End-Date: 2026-05-18 04:27:56
Start-Date: 2026-05-18 04:28:24
Commandline: apt-get --yes purge live-boot
Purge: live-boot:amd64 (1:20250815~deb13u1), live-task-kde:amd64
(13.0.4), live-task-base:amd64 (13.0.4)
End-Date: 2026-05-18 04:28:25
Start-Date: 2026-05-18 04:28:26
Commandline: apt-get --yes purge live-boot-initramfs-tools
Purge: live-boot-initramfs-tools:amd64 (1:20250815~deb13u1)
End-Date: 2026-05-18 04:28:39
Start-Date: 2026-05-18 04:28:41
Commandline: apt-get --yes purge live-config
Purge: live-config:amd64 (11.0.5)
End-Date: 2026-05-18 04:28:42
Start-Date: 2026-05-18 04:28:43
Commandline: apt-get --yes purge live-config-systemd
Purge: live-config-systemd:amd64 (11.0.5)
End-Date: 2026-05-18 04:28:44
Start-Date: 2026-05-18 04:28:45
Commandline: apt-get --yes purge calamares-settings-debian
Purge: calamares-settings-debian:amd64 (13.0.13-1)
End-Date: 2026-05-18 04:28:46
Start-Date: 2026-05-18 04:29:01
Commandline: apt-get --yes autoremove
Remove: live-boot-doc:amd64 (1:20250815~deb13u1), libyaml-cpp0.8:amd64
(0.8.0+dfsg-7), squashfs-tools:amd64 (1:4.6.1-1), live-config-doc:amd64
(11.0.5), keyutils:amd64 (1.6.3-6), live-tools:amd64 (1:20240525),
user-setup:amd64 (1.107), cryptsetup:amd64 (2:2.7.5-2), pkexec:amd64
(126-2), calamares:amd64 (3.3.14-1)
End-Date: 2026-05-18 04:29:03
Start-Date: 2026-05-18 11:31:54
Commandline: packagekit role='update-packages'
Requested-By: mazzare (1000)
Install: linux-image-6.12.88+deb13-amd64:amd64 (6.12.88-1, automatic)
Upgrade: libnghttp2-14:amd64 (1.64.0-1.1, 1.64.0-1.1+deb13u1),
libpostproc58:amd64 (7:7.1.3-0+deb13u1, 7:7.1.4-0+deb13u1),
linux-image-amd64:amd64 (6.12.86-1, 6.12.88-1), libavcodec61:amd64
(7:7.1.3-0+deb13u1, 7:7.1.4-0+deb13u1), libavfilter10:amd64
(7:7.1.3-0+deb13u1, 7:7.1.4-0+deb13u1), libavutil59:amd64
(7:7.1.3-0+deb13u1, 7:7.1.4-0+deb13u1), libswscale8:amd64
(7:7.1.3-0+deb13u1, 7:7.1.4-0+deb13u1), libopenjp2-7:amd64
(2.5.3-2.1~deb13u1, 2.5.3-2.1~deb13u2), libswresample5:amd64
(7:7.1.3-0+deb13u1, 7:7.1.4-0+deb13u1), libavformat61:amd64
(7:7.1.3-0+deb13u1, 7:7.1.4-0+deb13u1), linux-libc-dev:amd64 (6.12.86-1,
6.12.88-1)
End-Date: 2026-05-18 11:32:24
Start-Date: 2026-05-18 12:01:45
Commandline: apt-get install wget
Requested-By: mazzare (1000)
Install: wget:amd64 (1.25.0-2)
End-Date: 2026-05-18 12:01:46
Start-Date: 2026-05-18 05:15:33 <-- Chronological reversal occurs here
upon ntpdate forcing network step
Commandline: apt install ntpsec-ntpdate
Requested-By: mazzare (1000)
Install: ntpsec-ntpdate:amd64 (1.2.3+dfsg1-8), python3-ntp:amd64
(1.2.3+dfsg1-8, automatic), ntpsec-ntpdig:amd64 (1.2.3+dfsg1-8, automatic)
End-Date: 2026-05-18 05:15:34
Start-Date: 2026-05-18 05:28:58
Commandline: apt-get install firefox
Requested-By: mazzare (1000)
Install: firefox:amd64 (150.0.3~build1)
End-Date: 2026-05-18 05:29:02
Please include systemd-timesyncd by default in the Calamares environment
configuration to ensure proper time stepping upon network acquisition
before target environment finalization.
