[Bug 484698] [NEW] ntp package should not install a drift file

JanCeuleers jan.ceuleers at computer.org
Wed Nov 18 10:54:03 GMT 2009


Public bug reported:

Binary package hint: ntp

The drift file (in Ubuntu its default location is
/var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift) contains ntpd's estimate of the system's drift
relative to UTC, expressed in ppm. This file is generated by ntpd, and
its purpose is to speed up convergence following restart.

Ubuntu's ntp package installs a drift file containing 0.000, i.e. a zero
drift. The effect is that when ntpd is first started following
installation of the ntp package, it will assume that zero ppm is a good
estimate of the drift of the system clock.

This is not correct. If no reliable estimate of the drift is known (as
is the case when ntp is first installed), the drift file should simply
be absent, so that ntpd knows that characterisation of the system's
drift has not yet happened. The current approach causes ntpd's startup
behaviour to be significantly worse than it needs to be.

Please therefore simply refrain from installing a drift file. If one
already exists I recommend that the ntp installer should leave it alone,
except perhaps for making sure that it has the correct permissions and
ownership.

** Affects: ntp (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

-- 
ntp package should not install a drift file
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/484698
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