Mine:
$ ls -lah /etc/localtime
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.9K 2007-11-01 15:28 /etc/localtime
$ gaze activity | grep 20071101.*glibc
20071101:1356(+0000)    summon  glibc   2.7     success
20071101:1356(+0000)    cast    glibc   2.7     start
20071101:1425(+0000)    dispel  glibc   2.6.1   success
20071101:1429(+0000)    cast    glibc   2.7     success

So I guess I can confirm it, except that it isn't a link here (anymore?).

My box:

$ ls -lah /etc/localtime
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 33 2007-04-21 12:49 /etc/localtime ->
/usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Prague

It is a link from 2007-04-21. I updated glibc to 2.7 on 2007-11-12. No changes.

$ gaze activity | grep glibc.*2.7
20071112:0143(+0000)    summon  glibc   2.7     success
20071112:0153(+0000)    cast    glibc   2.7     start
20071112:0214(+0000)    cast    glibc   2.7     success
20080411:0647(+0000)    summon  glibc   2.7     success
20080411:0647(+0000)    cast    glibc   2.7     start
20080411:0703(+0000)    dispel  glibc   2.7     success
20080411:0706(+0000)    cast    glibc   2.7     success
20080611:1139(+0000)    summon  glibc   2.7     success
20080611:1139(+0000)    cast    glibc   2.7     start
20080611:1154(+0000)    dispel  glibc   2.7     success
20080611:1158(+0000)    cast    glibc   2.7     success

What about "gaze from /etc/localtime"? My is from install iso.

$ cat /etc/sourcemage-release
Source Mage GNU/Linux 0.9.6.3 i486-pc-linux-gnu
Installed from CD using installer v. 0.9.6.3 on Sat Apr 21 12:49:50 CEST 2007

$ gaze from /etc/localtime
$

No owners for /etc/localtime on my box.

$ cat /etc/sourcemage-release
Source Mage GNU/Linux 0.9.6.1 i486-pc-linux-gnu
Installed from CD using installer v. 0.9.6.1 on Fri Feb 23 17:44:19 UTC 2007

$ cat /etc/sourcemage-release
Source Mage GNU/Linux 0.9.5 i486-pc-linux-gnu
Installed from CD using installer v. 0.9.5 on Sat Nov 12 19:26:36 PST 2005

And one from the x86_64 silverthistle release (no /etc/sourcemage-release).

$ gaze from /etc/localtime
$ more /etc/sourcemage-release
Source Mage GNU/Linux 0.9.5-test2 i486-pc-linux-gnu
Installed from CD using installer v. 0.9.5-test2 on Sun Sep 25 16:13:17 CEST 
2005

btw, 
$ strings -n 3 /etc/localtime | grep '^[[:alpha:]]\+$'
this meantions CET and CEST, which are good for me. Maybe glibc copied the 
locales over instead of linking them?

On the a box installed from the following ISO:
$ cat /etc/sourcemage-release
Source Mage GNU/Linux 0.9.6.3 i486-pc-linux-gnu
Installed from CD using installer v. 0.9.6.3 on Wed Jan  9 04:46:16 PST 2008

This also happens.

I have not yet found *why* this is happening. According to the code I've found
in glibc, it should not be overwriting /etc/localtime:

$ ls -lah /etc/localtime
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 30 2008-06-27 13:19 /etc/localtime ->
/usr/share/zoneinfo/US/Pacific

$ ls -lah /usr/share/zoneinfo/US/Pacific 
-rw-r--r-- 2 root root 2.8K 2008-06-27 13:12 /usr/share/zoneinfo/US/Pacific

$ if test -r /etc/localtime; then echo true; else echo false; fi
true

# cast -c glibc
...

$ ls -lah /etc/localtime
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 30 2008-06-27 13:19 /etc/localtime ->
/usr/share/zoneinfo/Factory

$ gaze compile glibc
...
if test -r /etc/localtime; then \
          echo Site timezone NOT reset to Factory.; \
        else \
          rm -f /etc/localtimeT; \
          /bin/sh ../scripts/rellns-sh /usr/share/zoneinfo/Factory
/etc/localtimeT; \
          mv -f /etc/localtimeT /etc/localtime; \
if test -r /etc/localtime; then \
          echo Site timezone NOT reset to Factory.; \
        else \
          rm -f /etc/localtimeT; \
          /bin/sh ../scripts/rellns-sh /usr/share/zoneinfo/Factory
/etc/localtimeT; \
          mv -f /etc/localtimeT /etc/localtime; \
        fi
        fi


glibc-2.7/Makeconfig:
# What timezone should be the installed default (e.g., US/Eastern).
# Run `make -C time echo-zonenames' to see a list of available zone names.
# The local timezone can be changed with `zic -l TIMEZONE' at any time.
ifndef localtime
localtime = Factory
endif

# Where to install the "localtime" timezone file; this is the file whose
# contents $(localtime) specifies.  If this is a relative pathname, it is
# relative to $(zonedir).  It is a good idea to put this somewhere
# other than there, so the zoneinfo directory contains only universal data,
# localizing the configuration data elsewhere.
ifndef localtime-file
localtime-file = $(sysconfdir)/localtime
inst_localtime-file = $(install_root)$(localtime-file)
endif


glibc-2.7/timezone/Makefile:
ifdef localtime
$(installed-localtime-file): $(inst_zonedir)/$(localtime) $(objpfx)zic \
                             $(+force)
        $(make-target-directory)
        if test -r $@; then \
          echo Site timezone NOT reset to Factory.; \
        else \
          rm -f $@T; \
          $(SHELL) $(..)scripts/rellns-sh $< $@T; \
          mv -f $@T $@; \
        fi
endif

Found a simple fix, testing now. Will commit and submit a bug upstream if it works.

Created attachment 7140 [details]
Check if /etc/localtime is a symlink as well

This patch modifies timezone/Makefile to also check if /etc/localtime is a symlink, and if so to NOT reset to Factory. I tested this with multiple recasts, with and without castfs, and /etc/localtime remained untouched.

Fixed in test with commit 83a63a9a73da1e33d4c02c052fe2457c32ca00c7

Requesting integration to stable-rc-0.26 and stable-0.25.

Upstream bug filed at http://sources.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=6959

approving for stable-rc. Some more testing can't hurt and stable is around the corner anyway. Integrated.