[pkg-ntp-maintainers] Bug#613819: ntp: problems synchronising time on PII-266 with 2.6.38-rc? kernels

[Arthur Marsh]

Package: ntp
Version: 1:4.2.6.p2+dfsg-1+b1
Severity: normal


As the attachment shows, I've modified /etc/init.d/ntp to run ntpdate on my 
ISP's ntp server before starting ntpd.

Tonight I noticed:

/etc/init.d/ntp restart
Stopping NTP server: ntpd.
Starting NTP server: ntpd18 Feb 00:02:06 ntpdate[14035]: step time server 192.231.203.132 offset 131.936686 sec

The over 2 minute drift from correct time whilst running ntpd is unacceptable.

Looking at other bug reports, I ran:

# ntpq -np
     remote           refid      st t when poll reach   delay   offset  jitter
==============================================================================
 192.231.203.132 216.218.254.202  2 u   10   32  377   17.163  19081.2 4120.94
 203.82.209.217  18.26.4.105      2 u   11   64  177   48.001  19086.2 11098.8
 174.143.207.151 128.249.1.10     3 u   12   64  177  234.325  19093.2 10865.4
 203.17.251.1    192.189.54.17    3 u    5   64  377  196.310  19419.7 11304.7
 202.81.208.160  203.12.160.2     3 u   42   64  177   50.070  18403.6 11197.5

Also, see:

# dmesg|grep -i clock
[    0.191842] * this clock source is slow. Consider trying other clock sources
[    3.716858] rtc_cmos rtc_cmos: setting system clock to 2011-02-17 01:16:26 UTC (1297905386)
[    4.480441] Switching to clocksource tsc
[  130.133824] Clocksource tsc unstable (delta = 136076259 ns)
[  130.137938] Switching to clocksource jiffies

I would like to find a way of keeping the time stable under 2.6.38* kernels
on this machine (PII-266, 440BX chipset). Any constructive suggestions welcome.


-- System Information:
Debian Release: wheezy/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'testing'), (500, 'stable'), (1, 'experimental')
Architecture: i386 (i686)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.38-rc5 (SMP w/1 CPU core; PREEMPT)
Locale: LANG=en_AU.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_AU.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash

Versions of packages ntp depends on:
ii  adduser                  3.112+nmu2      add and remove users and groups
ii  dpkg                     1.15.8.10       Debian package management system
ii  libc6                    2.11.2-11       Embedded GNU C Library: Shared lib
ii  libcap2                  1:2.20-1        support for getting/setting POSIX.
ii  libedit2                 2.11-20080614-2 BSD editline and history libraries
ii  libopts25                1:5.10-1.1      automated option processing librar
ii  libssl0.9.8              0.9.8o-5        SSL shared libraries
ii  lsb-base                 3.2-27          Linux Standard Base 3.2 init scrip
ii  netbase                  4.45            Basic TCP/IP networking system

Versions of packages ntp recommends:
ii  perl                          5.10.1-17  Larry Wall's Practical Extraction 

Versions of packages ntp suggests:
ii  ntp-doc                1:4.2.6.p2+dfsg-1 Network Time Protocol documentatio

-- Configuration Files:
/etc/init.d/ntp changed:
PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
.. /lib/lsb/init-functions
DAEMON=/usr/sbin/ntpd
PIDFILE=/var/run/ntpd.pid
test -x $DAEMON || exit 5
if [ -r /etc/default/ntp ]; then
	. /etc/default/ntp
fi
if [ -e /var/lib/ntp/ntp.conf.dhcp ]; then
	NTPD_OPTS="$NTPD_OPTS -c /var/lib/ntp/ntp.conf.dhcp"
fi
LOCKFILE=/var/lock/ntpdate
lock_ntpdate() {
	if [ -x /usr/bin/lockfile-create ]; then
		lockfile-create $LOCKFILE
		lockfile-touch $LOCKFILE &
		LOCKTOUCHPID="$!"
	fi
}
unlock_ntpdate() {
	if [ -x /usr/bin/lockfile-create ] ; then
		kill $LOCKTOUCHPID
		lockfile-remove $LOCKFILE
	fi
}
RUNASUSER=ntp
UGID=$(getent passwd $RUNASUSER | cut -f 3,4 -d:) || true
if test "$(uname -s)" = "Linux"; then
        NTPD_OPTS="$NTPD_OPTS -u $UGID"
fi
case $1 in
	start)
		log_daemon_msg "Starting NTP server" "ntpd"
		if [ -z "$UGID" ]; then
			log_failure_msg "user \"$RUNASUSER\" does not exist"
			exit 1
		fi
		#
		ntpdate 192.231.203.132
		#
		lock_ntpdate
  		start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --oknodo --pidfile $PIDFILE --startas $DAEMON -- -p $PIDFILE $NTPD_OPTS
		status=$?
		unlock_ntpdate
		log_end_msg $status
  		;;
	stop)
		log_daemon_msg "Stopping NTP server" "ntpd"
  		start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --oknodo --pidfile $PIDFILE
		log_end_msg $?
		rm -f $PIDFILE
  		;;
	restart|force-reload)
		$0 stop && sleep 2 && $0 start
  		;;
	try-restart)
		if $0 status >/dev/null; then
			$0 restart
		else
			exit 0
		fi
		;;
	reload)
		exit 3
		;;
	status)
		status_of_proc $DAEMON "NTP server"
		;;
	*)
		echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|restart|try-restart|force-reload|status}"
		exit 2
		;;
esac

/etc/ntp.conf changed:
driftfile /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift
statistics loopstats peerstats clockstats
filegen loopstats file loopstats type day enable
filegen peerstats file peerstats type day enable
filegen clockstats file clockstats type day enable
server 192.231.203.132 iburst prefer minpoll 4 maxpoll 5
server 0.debian.pool.ntp.org iburst 
server 1.debian.pool.ntp.org iburst
server 2.debian.pool.ntp.org iburst
server 3.debian.pool.ntp.org iburst
restrict -4 default kod notrap nomodify nopeer noquery
restrict -6 default kod notrap nomodify nopeer noquery
restrict 127.0.0.1
restrict ::1


-- debconf-show failed