[pkg-ntp-maintainers] Bug#483148: Bug#483148: ntp didn't correct time until /etc/default/ntp was modified with NTPSERVERS

Bob Lounsbury boblounsbury at gmail.com
Sun Jun 1 18:43:56 UTC 2008


On Sun, Jun 1, 2008 at 8:45 AM, Peter Eisentraut <peter_e at gmx.net> wrote:
> Bob Lounsbury wrote:
>> I installed ntp and ntpdate and then right-clicked on the gnome
>> clock to adjust the date and time. I set the clock to synchronize with
>> internet servers and picked 3 different servers. However, these actions
>> did not correct the time. The three servers were listed in /etc/ntp.conf
>> but as I stated did not correct the time. It wasn't until I added
>> ntpservers to /etc/default/ntp that the time was updated correctly. So
>> there seems to be some discrepancy as to what /etc file is actually
>> controlling (or should be controlling) the clock. I didn't expect to
>> have to edit config files to make the clock
>> set to the correct time. I presumed that editing the time and date
>> settings would fix the time but it didn't.
>
> I think there is some confusion on your end about ntp and ntpdate and what
> each of them do.  For example, the NTPSERVERS setting (I assume that is what
> you meant, please be accurate) is only used by the ntpdate package, not by
> ntp.  Try uninstalling one of these packages so you can be sure what you are
> doing.  Also not that ntp does not necessarily "correct the time"
> immediately.
>

At first yes, I had only installed the ntp package, which after
right-clicking on the gnome clock and setting it to synchronize with
three different servers the time was not corrected. This was over a
two-three day period with several restarts.

Then I saw the ntpdate package and installed it, which also did not
correct the time. So, then I started digging around in config files
and googling for answers. I then added the following to
/etc/default/ntp:

# List of NTP servers to use  (Separate multiple servers with spaces.)
NTPSERVERS="0.debian.pool.ntp.org 1.debian.pool.ntp.org
2.debian.pool.ntp.org 3.debian.pool.ntp.org"

Immediately the clock corrected itself and over the past week has
maintained the correct time.

My point here is that installing ntp and setting the gnome clock to
synchronize with 3 time servers did not work. Why? So, as I initially
stated, there is some problem with /etc/default/ntp & /etc/ntp.conf.
Adding the NTPSERVERS setting to /etc/default/ntp has corrected the
issue. Why? I don't know, I'm just a newbie end user. I haven't even
needed to use ntp in Gentoo, Arch, or Fedora. Simply setting the clock
to UTC and America/Boise works for those distro's but not Debian. I
guess that's a bug for another day.

/Bob





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