[pkg-dhcp-devel] Bug#801805: isc-dhcp-client: Error 'Unable to set up timer: out of range' when system time too far in future

[Stephen Oberholtzer]

Package: isc-dhcp-client
Version: 4.3.3-5
Severity: important
Tags: upstream

Dear Maintainer,

(tagged as 'upstream' because I find it unlikely that the issue is
Debian-specific; I'm not 100% certain, though.)

I have a Chromebook (specifically, an Acer C720) that I have loaded with
Stretch. The RTC is powered by the main system battery, rather than a
dedicated coin cell.  As a result, if the battery dies, the RTC data will
become corrupt and read a quasi-random time at the next boot.  Due to the
nature of Chromebooks, I expect this occurs with the expectation that the
issue will self-correct as soon as the user goes online and NTP syncs.

However, with Stretch installed, we have a bootstrapping problem: If the
system clock is too far in the future (I suspect a 2038 bug), dhclient
errors while acquiring the lease, preventing it from going online, thus
preventing an NTP sync to fix the clock.

I have reproduced this problem three times.  The first two involved a dead
battery.  The third was a repro with the latest version (4.3.3-5) using 

	sudo date -s 'Sat Jun  4 10:38:14 EDT 2135'

then telling NetworkManager to disconnect and reconnect to my wireless network.


Here is an excerpt of the relevant details from the last:

stevie at ikaros:~$ date
Sat Jun  4 10:38:14 EDT 2135
stevie at ikaros:~$ less /var/log/daemon.log

Jun  4 10:38:27 ikaros dhclient[2113]: DHCPDISCOVER on wlp1s0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 3
Jun  4 10:38:27 ikaros dhclient[2113]: Unable to set up timer: out of range
Jun  4 10:38:27 ikaros dhclient[2113]: 
Jun  4 10:38:27 ikaros dhclient[2113]: If you think you have received this message due to a bug rather
Jun  4 10:38:27 ikaros dhclient[2113]: than a configuration issue please read the section on submitting
Jun  4 10:38:27 ikaros dhclient[2113]: bugs on either our web page at www.isc.org or in the README file
Jun  4 10:38:27 ikaros dhclient[2113]: before submitting a bug.  These pages explain the proper
Jun  4 10:38:27 ikaros dhclient[2113]: process and the information we find helpful for debugging..
Jun  4 10:38:27 ikaros dhclient[2113]: 
Jun  4 10:38:27 ikaros dhclient[2113]: exiting.


As soon as I did

	sudo date -s '2015-10-14'

then my network connection came right up and I was able to submit this bug report.


-- System Information:
Debian Release: stretch/sid
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 4.2.0-1-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)

Versions of packages isc-dhcp-client depends on:
ii  debianutils       4.5.1
ii  iproute2          4.1.1-1
ii  libc6             2.19-22
ii  libdns-export100  1:9.9.5.dfsg-12
ii  libisc-export95   1:9.9.5.dfsg-12

Versions of packages isc-dhcp-client recommends:
ii  isc-dhcp-common  4.3.3-3

Versions of packages isc-dhcp-client suggests:
ii  avahi-autoipd         0.6.31-5
pn  isc-dhcp-client-ddns  <none>
pn  resolvconf            <none>

-- no debconf information