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From: dawes@physics.su.OZ.AU (David Dawes)
Subject: Re: FreeBSD and ntpdate behave strangely
Message-ID: <CICxEr.Iwo@ucc.su.OZ.AU>
Sender: news@ucc.su.OZ.AU
Nntp-Posting-Host: physics.su.oz.au
Organization: School of Physics, University of Sydney, Australia
References: <1993Dec20.132523.14017@alw.nih.gov>
Date: Mon, 20 Dec 1993 23:32:49 GMT
Lines: 42
In article <1993Dec20.132523.14017@alw.nih.gov> crtb@helix.nih.gov (Chuck Bacon) writes:
>I'm running a straight FreeBSD102+syscons on a Compudyne 486DX33
>with AMI bios. Last night, I collected and built xntp3.3b.tar.Z
>from louie.udel.edu (didn't install it though), and discovered the
>following strange behavior:
>
>My PC was a couple minutes off, and I had a current SLIP connection
>(a good one, via V.32terbo) to the outside world. I ran ntpdate to
>a nearby host (which has been running xntpd for a long time);
>ntpdate reported a sizeable offset, and that should have been the
>end of it.
>
>However, while telnetted to this nearby host, I sunc. my wristwatch
>there using `date`. Just to check, I then did `date` on my PC.
>Behold, the PC was 14 sec. slow!
>
>I ran ntpdate again, hoping to set the time more closely.
>Reaction time over the SLIP connection was within a second.
>The offset reported this time was about 0.9 seconds.
>I checked with my wristwatch, and my PC *still* appeared about
>14 sec. slow. I telnetted back to the same host, and my wristwatch
>was within a second. Back to my PC, and my watch was 14 sec. ahead
>of the PC.
>
>A repeat of ntpdate results in a different offset, again well less
>than one second, and yet the PC seems to remain 14 seconds behind
>the host with which it is allegedly syncing. Any clues?
That happens when you use the "right" zoneinfo files instead of the
"posix" ones on FreeBSD. The "right" versions include leap seconds --
and that is where the 14 seconds comes from. I just switched to using
the posix versions.
David
--
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David Dawes <dawes@physics.su.oz.au> DoD#210 | Phone: +61 2 692 2639
School of Physics, University of Sydney, Australia | Fax: +61 2 660 2903
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