Re: Scary bugs
On Fri, 04 Feb 2000, Hamish Moffatt wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 03, 2000 at 11:43:04AM +0100, Pavel Epifanov wrote:
> > Please, remove this command (--systohc). I hope It will fix the reported bug.
> > And I want to have one customised file less on all my computers.
>
> remove --systohc? Madness! It is a useful function.
Before we start yet another shouting match, I suggest everyone to read the
new version of the /etc/init.d/hwclock.sh file (in the new util-linux
package, still in incoming as far as I know). Or read the diffs I sent to
this list a few days ago.
--systohc is necessary for two reasons (IMHO):
NTP and any other true timekeeping strategies need it to keep the RTC
correctly updated, even if the kernel is told to enter 11 minute mode.
The most simple approach to the clock: a "one single clock" model requires
it.
Also, do not confuse --adjust and --systohc, --systohc does not apply any
sort of drift correction.
In short:
1. We need --hctosys on startup, or we need another utility to set the
kernel timezone AFAIK. Maybe glibc sets the kernel TZ, but I doubt it.
The kernel will copy the RTC time to the system clock regardless of
--hctosys, but will not set the timezone. If anything enables 11 minute
mode with the kernel TZ incorretly set, your RTC time will probably be
set incorrectly as well.
--hctosys on startup is the expected behaviour, and it is analogue of
what Windows, DOS, and other Linux distributions do.
2. By default we shoudln't enable --adjust because it can cause
hard-to-track errors for the uninitiated, and it causes more headaches
than its worth for anyone who didn't take his time to read, install and
use an advanced timekeeping system (ntp/chrony, adjtimex, ntpdate...).
Even for people using advanced timekeeping software, --adjust may be
dangerous and hwclock should be modified to at the very least apply
sanity checks and optional limits to the corrections it does to the drift
file and the RTC. This is stuff for woody, and I'll send a RFC dealing
with hwclock --adjust patches to -devel for discussion soon.
No drift compensation at all (no --adjust) is the expected behaviour for
anyone coming from Windows and DOS as well as most basic users. I am not
sure on this, but I don't recall any of my RedHat boxes attempting drift
correction either. Therefore (IMHO) this (--adjust disabled) should be
our default until every single drawback in --adjust is fixed.
3. --systohc on shutdown (without --adjust, and with --hctosys on startup)
is needed to allow users to use the "one clock" approach. It is also
needed for correct NTP operation. It is probably desired by anyone using
ntpdate as well.
It is a safe default: it is the expected behaviour for users coming from
Windows. Users coming from DOS might or might not expect it (my version
of DOS updated the RTC everytime I issued the DATE or TIME command to set
the system clock, but otherwise left it alone).
Turning --systohc off by default requires documentation updates to a
number of other packages (I've some bugs already filled on this topic
because this documentation is a good thing to have anyway), as well as
updates to their config scripts to suggest enabling the feature back.
I have no idea if other linux distributions do a --systohc on shutdown,
but the only place I've ever read/heard the notion that the RTC should be
left untouched by a non-ntp-enabled system is the hwclock (8) manpage
which has no business at all in giving such out-of-their-control
information to begin with.
--
"One disk to rule them all, One disk to find them. One disk to bring
them all and in the darkness grind them. In the Land of Redmond
where the shadows lie." -- The Silicon Valley Tarot
Henrique Holschuh
Reply to: