From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Apr 21 14:48:56 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7A32E106566B for ; Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:48:56 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from mel.flynn+fbsd.questions@mailing.thruhere.net) Received: from mailhub.rachie.is-a-geek.net (rachie.is-a-geek.net [66.230.99.27]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 425BA8FC08 for ; Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:48:56 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from mel.flynn+fbsd.questions@mailing.thruhere.net) Received: from sarevok.dnr.servegame.org (mailhub.lan.rachie.is-a-geek.net [192.168.2.11]) by mailhub.rachie.is-a-geek.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id 263687E837; Tue, 21 Apr 2009 06:48:55 -0800 (AKDT) From: Mel Flynn To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:48:53 +0200 User-Agent: KMail/1.11.2 (FreeBSD/8.0-CURRENT; KDE/4.2.2; i386; ; ) References: <200904211106.01965.mel.flynn+fbsd.questions@mailing.thruhere.net> <49ED9454.5030100@infracaninophile.co.uk> In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset="iso-8859-6" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Message-Id: <200904211648.53403.mel.flynn+fbsd.questions@mailing.thruhere.net> Cc: Tim Judd Subject: Re: Preventing ntpd from adjusting time (backwards) X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:48:56 -0000 On Tuesday 21 April 2009 16:11:52 Tim Judd wrote: > On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 3:39 AM, Matthew Seaman < > > m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk> wrote: > > Mel Flynn wrote: > > > Hi, > > > > > > Some coarse reading of ntpd(8) and ntp.conf(5) doesn't lead me to > > > believe > > > > it's > > > > > possible to make ntpd *not* adjust the time. With adjust I don't mean > > > the > > > > skew > > > > > operation, but really change the time. Backwards is my primary concern > > > > but if > > > > > it can be turned off completely it's fine with me. > > > > > > Reason being dovecot bailing out when this happens: > > > Apr 1 16:18:26 squish ntpd[1353]: time reset -6.711955 s > > > > > > Apr 1 16:18:26 mx1 dovecot: Fatal: Time just moved backwards by 6 > > > > seconds. > > > > > This might cause a lot of problems, so I'll just kill myself now. > > > http://wiki.dovecot.org/TimeMovedBackwards > > > > This seems to be a bete-noir for the dovecot developer. Whatever, it is > > a royal pain in the arse, as my mailserver always steps the time > > backwards on each reboot, and then dovecot does it's dying swan thing. > > > > Three choices: > > > > * Don't run 'ntpd -g' as the documentation tells you is the modern and > > accepted method. Instead, run 'ntpdate' as a separate process and > > run 'ntpd' without the '-g' flag. > > > > * Don't run dovecot. Other IMAP servers do not suffer in the same > > way. > > > > * Put up with it. Avoid reboots, and swear at all concerned any time > > you really do have to reboot. > > > > Cheers, > > > > Matthew > > How about adding ntpdate's provided string to dovecot's required string in > their respective startup rc.d scripts? This forces dovecot to wait until > ntpdate has been called, assuming time has actually been set/changed, then > dovecot may start? That could work, if ntpd_sync_on_start would actually sync on start. Trying not to enable ntpdate unless I really have to, since I expect it to be gone in 8.0. Still, there's a chance ntp steps backwards during the runtime, but then my CMOS battery probably needs replacing anyway. -- Mel