Your system information

• Steam client version (build number or date): Aug 1 2018, at 22:27:11
• Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): NixOS
• Opted into Steam client beta?: No
• Have you checked for system updates?: Yes

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

The Steam client seems to determine the timezone by doing the equivalent of readlink /etc/localtime instead of following the symlink all the way through (ie. readlink -f /etc/localtime). This causes the new Steam chat to fail to connect on NixOS where /etc/localtime is a symlink to a symlink to a symlink. (NixOS/nixpkgs#44254)

Steps for reproducing this issue:

I specified distribution as NixOS above, but you can actually reproduce this on Debian as well (and in theory any other Linux distro).

Here's how to reproduce Steam chat failing to connect on Debian:

1. Run as root:

   ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Australia/Sydney /localtime
   rm /etc/localtime
   ln -s /localtime /etc/localtime
   

2. Now run Steam

3. Wait a bit for Steam chat to pop up and fail to connect to network

To demonstrate Steam chat getting confused by the symlink:

1. Run as root:

   mkdir /zoneinfo
   ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Australia/Sydney /zoneinfo/NZ
   rm /etc/localtime
   ln -s /zoneinfo/NZ /etc/localtime
   

2. Now run Steam

3. Send a message in Steam chat and notice that times are displayed in New Zealand timezone, despite every other application on the system now displaying times in Sydney Australia timezone.