[pkg-ntp-maintainers] Bug#417118: ntpdate: Start sequence problem for some network setups

[Lupe Christoph]

Package: ntpdate
Version: 1:4.2.2.p4+dfsg-2
Severity: normal

ntpdate is started whenever a network interface becomes "up". The start
script is /etc/network/if-up.d/ntpdate.

Now imagine this scenario: you have a machine attached to a LAN. This
machine uses a static IP address (i.e. no PPP, no DHCP). It runs a local
nameserver.

The network is started by /etc/rc0.d/S35networking, which starts ntpdate
when eth0 becomes "up". At that time, the local nameserver is not yet
available, it is started by /etc/rc[2345].d/S15bind9. ntpdate cannot
resolve the names of the NTP servers and fails.

I have no idea what to do about this scenario except run a start script
between /etc/rc[2345].d/S15bind9 and /etc/rc[2345].d/S23ntp. But
automatic detection of this situation is not easy.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 4.0
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (990, 'testing'), (100, 'unstable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Shell:  /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Kernel: Linux 2.6.18-4-k7
Locale: LANG=en_US, LC_CTYPE=en_US (charmap=ISO-8859-1)

Versions of packages ntpdate depends on:
ii  libc6                       2.3.6.ds1-13 GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii  libcap1                     1:1.10-14    support for getting/setting POSIX.
ii  libssl0.9.8                 0.9.8c-4     SSL shared libraries
ii  netbase                     4.29         Basic TCP/IP networking system

ntpdate recommends no packages.

-- debconf information:
* shared/ntp/servers: