[Bug 1125726] Re: boot-time race between /etc/network/if-up.d/ntpdate and "/etc/init.d/ntp start"

[Cam Cope]

In case it wasn't clear, my patch is supposed to be for the
debian/ntpdate.if-up file. Also, I think the priority of this bug should
be higher, it was assigned 'low' when there was no clear problem caused
by the race. Systems booting with uncorrectable clock skew can be a
serious problem.

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Title:
  boot-time race between /etc/network/if-up.d/ntpdate and
  "/etc/init.d/ntp start"

Status in ntp package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  We're seeing a race between if-up.d/ntpdate and the ntp startup
  script.

  1) if-up.d/ntpdate starts.
  2) if-up.d/ntpdate acquires the lock "/var/lock/ntpdate-ifup".
  3) if-up.d/ntpdate stops the ntp service [which isn't running anyway].
  4) if-up.d/ntpdate starts running ntpdate, which bids UDP *.ntp
  5) /etc/init.d/rc 2 executes "/etc/rc2.d/S20ntp start"
  6) /etc/init.d/ntp acquires the lock "/var/lock/ntpdate".
  7) /etc/init.d/ntp starts the ntp daemon.
  8) The ntp daemon logs an error, complaining that it cannot bind UDP *.ntp.
  9) if-up.d/ntpdate now starts the ntp service.

  The result is a weird churn, though ntpd does end up running at the
  end.

  Should these not be using the same lock file?

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