On a systemd-based Linux server, an administrator discovers that /etc/localtime is missing or points to an invalid file. What effect will this have when the system boots?
The kernel halts during early boot and waits for timedatectl to set a valid zone.
Services still start normally, but timestamps fall back to UTC until the time zone is corrected.
Only user-level services start; all system-level units remain inactive until /etc/localtime is fixed.
systemd fails to initialize, causing the boot process to drop into emergency mode.
systemd and its unit files do not depend on a valid /etc/localtime to start. If the link is absent or incorrect, systemd simply defaults to the UTC time zone; all services still start, but their timestamps will appear in UTC (or an unexpected zone) until the time zone is fixed. Therefore, the system continues to boot normally, though timed events and log interpretation may be affected.
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What is /etc/localtime used for in Linux?
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What role does timedatectl play in managing time zones?
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Why is UTC used as the default time zone in Linux?