[PC-BSD Testing] ntpd and drift file

[Kris Moore]

Fabrizio Parrella wrote:
> I do not have the ntpd.drift file.
> 
>>From what I read online it should create the file even on older versions and 
> for some reason it doesn't.
> 
> Even if I am not getting any start-up errors from NTP on 7.1, I would 
> suggest to override the settings anyway to avoid possible problems with 
> future updates... plus, the time is not updating unless I change that 
> setting (normal behavior if I don't have the file).
> 
> Fabry
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Kris Moore" <kris at pcbsd.com>
> To: "PC-BSD Testing list" <testing at lists.pcbsd.org>
> Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2009 10:11 AM
> Subject: Re: [PC-BSD Testing] ntpd and drift file
> 
> 
>> Fabrizio Parrella wrote:
>>> I have been having problems with update the time since 1.5 (can't recall 
>>> 1.4), and today I think I figure out the issue.  the drift file is 
>>> missing or bad configured
>>> in 1.5.1 and 7.0.2:
>>> # ps awwx | grep ntp
>>> 1025  ??  Ss     0:04.39 /usr/sbin/ntpd -g -c /etc/ntp.conf -p 
>>> /var/run/ntpd.pid -f /var/db/ntpd.drift
>>> # ls -l /var/db/ntpd.drift
>>> ls: /var/db/ntpd.drift: No such file or directory
>>> # ls -l /var/db/ntp.drift
>>> -rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  7 Apr  8 14:59 /var/db/ntp.drift
>>>
>>> looks like that the correct value is in ntp.drift, but the program is 
>>> called with ntpd.drift.
>>>
>>> The /etc/ntp.conf is correctly trying to override that value, but maybe 
>>> the command line value is "stronger" than the config file...
>>> The ntpd.conf is specified in the /etc/defaults/rc.conf
>>> If I override that value in /etc/rc.conf everything works ok and ntpd 
>>> starts without giving an error in the /var/log/messages
>>>
>>> so, the solution is simple enough:
>>> #echo ntpd_flags=\"-p /var/run/ntpd.pid -f /var/db/ntp.drift\" >> 
>>> /etc/rc.conf
>>> or (let's the /etc/ntp.conf decide which is the file):
>>> #echo ntpd_flags=\"-p /var/run/ntpd.pid\" >> /etc/rc.conf
>>> or (but I like better the second one)
>>> #ln -s /var/db/ntp.drift /var/db/ntpd.drift
>>> followed by a computer restart or:
>>> #/etc/rc.d/ntpd restart
>>> and this will generate a nice message (got an error message in 1.5, in 7 
>>> it doesn't work but no error messages):
>>> # tail -2 /var/log/messages
>>> Apr  8 16:49:08 h2113 ntpd[1025]: ntpd exiting on signal 15
>>> Apr  8 16:49:08 h2113 ntpd[42455]: ntpd 4.2.4p5-a Mon Nov 24 19:44:30 EST 
>>> 2008 (1)
>>> #
>>>
>>> Fabry
>>>
>> Fabry,
>>

Fabry, Here's another possible solution. If you edit /etc/ntp.conf and 
change the driftfile to /var/db/ntpd.drift does that work? Looking at 
/etc/defaults/rc.conf the ntpd_flags are already set to use ntpd.drift, 
and I would prefer to not override that if its not necessary and fixing 
ntp.conf does the trick.



-- 

Kris Moore
PC-BSD Software
http://www.pcbsd.com