Plesk provides error on update: Package tzdata is not configured yet.

Symptoms

• While trying to update system package in Tools & Settings > System Updates, the error like below appears in /var/log/plesk/systemupdatestool.log:

  CONFIG_TEXT: INFO: pum is called with arguments: ['--check']
  ERROR: Exited with returncode 1.
  The following packages have been unpacked but not yet configured.
  They must be configured using dpkg --configure or the configure
  menu option in dselect for them to work:
  pp18.0.61-bootstrapper Plesk v18.0.61 Bootstrapper
  The following packages are only half configured, probably due to problems
  configuring them the first time. The configuration should be retried using
  dpkg --configure <package> or the configure menu option in dselect:
  tzdata time zone and daylight-saving time data

• Server uses Ubuntu as OS

• Attempt to configure the tzdata package provides another error:

  # dpkg --configure tzdata
  Setting up tzdata (2024a-0ubuntu0.22.04.1) ...
  dpkg: error processing package tzdata (--configure):
  installed tzdata package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 10
  Errors were encountered while processing:
  tzdata

• The /etc/localtime is linked to a zone that doesn't work in new version of tzdata package (CET for example):

  # ll /etc/localtime
  lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 23 Mar 31 18:54 /etc/localtime -> /usr/share/zoneinfo/CET

  # cat /etc/timezone
  CET

Cause

Ubuntu bug with ID #2070285.

Resolution

Until the bug is fixed, the following steps can be used as a workaround on Ubuntu servers affected by the issue:

1. Connect to the server via SSH

2. Unlink the /etc/localtime file, and create a new timezone link (make sure to use the required timezone, Europe/Paris is used only as example):

# unlink /etc/localtime && ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Paris /etc/localtime

3. Rewrite /etc/timezone with a valid (new timezone) content:

# printf "Europe/Paris" > /etc/timezone

4. Re-install the tzdata package:

# dpkg -r --force-depends tzdata

# dpkg -i /var/cache/apt/archives/tzdata_2024a-0ubuntu0.22.04.1_all.deb

5. Configure the failed update from /var/log/plesk/systemupdatestool.log (pp18.0.61-bootstrapper package):

# dpkg --configure pp18.0.61-bootstrapper

6. Check if the issue is resolved by using the following command:

# plesk sbin pum --check