network services at boot (was Re: Boot charting)

On Mon, Nov 14, 2005 at 08:45:20AM +0000, Matthew East wrote:
> Idea: would it be possible to remove the ntpdate service from startup
> altogether? I've noticed that update-manager manages to reload my apt
> sources in the background after I've entered my password for other
> administrative services, perhaps it could be taught to update the clock
> from the internet via ntpdate too? Users should be able to disable that
> from the Time & Date administrative tool.
> 
> This to me would make more sense than running it at boot when loads of
> people don't have the internet up. In many cases, the ntpdate services
> doesn't fail quickly: it can keep searching for ages!
> 
> Probably this idea has occurred to you guys before and you've rejected
> it for some reason, if so, please ignore me. But I think on the face of
> things it would be a sensible solution.

The fact that it slows down the boot process in some circumstances where
network access is unavailable is more or less a bug which will be fixed,
rather than a condition we must accept.

-- 
 - mdz