Re: 5.3-BETA7: /etc/rc.d/ntpdate not using "$ntpdate_flags" from rc.conf ?

On Wed, Oct 06, 2004 at 07:18:19PM -0700, spam maps wrote:
> 
> Hello,
> 
> I'm puzzled by the /etc/rc.d/ntpdate script and
> I wonder whether the script is wrong, or there
> is lack of documentation here.
> 
I'd say lack of reading the documentation.  ;)

This is from the rc.subr(8) manpage:

: rc_flags  Flags to start the default command with.  Defaults
:           to ${name}_flags, unless overridden by the environ-
:           ment variable `flags'.  This variable may be
:           changed by the argument_precmd method.

> In /etc/rc.conf, I am using:
>   ntpdate_enable="YES"
>   ntpd_enable="YES"
> with servers listed in /etc/ntp.conf.
> 
> But I wonder if ntpdate instantly adjusts time
> using the "-b" from default ntpdate_flags.
> 
> The flags used by the /etc/rc.d/ntpdate script
> are found in this order:
> 
> 1. If /etc/ntp.conf exists and has servers
>    listed, then extract the servers from here.
> 
... and no ntpdate_hosts was specified.

> 2. If above fails to find servers, then use
>    servers listed in /etc/rc.conf as
>    ntpdate_flags="...".
> 
Um no.  Everything specified as ntpdate_flags is *always*
passed to ntpdate(8).  I use ntpdate_flags="-b <ntp_server>".

> 3. If all that fails, exit ntpdate without doing
>    any time/date modifications.
> 
Only if neither of ntpdate_hosts, /etc/ntp.conf, and
ntpdate_flags exist and set.

> I also wonder whether the default ntpdate_flags
> (set to "-b") has any effect at all, since it is
> ignored in case 1.
> 
Yes it does, and it becomes a value of ${rc_flags}.

        if [ -n "$ntpdate_hosts" -o -n "$rc_flags" ]; then
                echo "Setting date via ntp."
                ${ntpdate_command:-ntpdate} $rc_flags $ntpdate_hosts
        fi

Run it like this to see the actual command that gets executed:

	sh -x /etc/rc.d/ntpdate start


Cheers,
-- 
Ruslan Ermilov
ru_at_FreeBSD.org
FreeBSD committer