Re: Starting NTP server: ntpd/usr/sbin/ntpd: invalid option -- p

[Andrew Reid <reidac@bellatlantic.net>]

On Sunday 15 June 2008 17:10, David Christensen wrote:
> Andrew Reid wrote:
> > Check if there is also an /etc/init.d/ntpd.  If your box used
> > to have ntp, and that package was removed but not purged, the init
> > files will still be in place.  /etc/init.d/ntpd will find
> > the openntp executable and try to run it, but with wierd/wrong
> > options.
>
> Thanks for the clue.  I see:
>
> 20080615-135040 root@vd40r0 ~
> # l /etc/init.d/*ntp*
> /etc/init.d/ntp*  /etc/init.d/openntpd*  /etc/init.d/openntpd-orig*
>
>

> Reboot.  I don't see the ntpd error message on the console.  Looking for an
> ntp process:
>
> 20080615-140103 root@vd40r0 ~
> # ps -A | grep ntp
>  2214 ?        00:00:00 ntpdate

>
>
> I don't know if NTP is running.  It doesn't seem to be working.
>
>
> Any suggestions?

  My guess at this point is that you have now removed but not
purged both ntp and openntp.  This means the init files are still
present, but the executable (/usr/bin/ntpd or whatever) is absent,
so the init files are effectively no-ops.  
  
  This would explain the absence of an ntp process.

  What is the output of "dpkg -l '*ntp*'?  That should 
tell you which packages are present.  I'm betting
"rc" for ntpd and openntp, and "ii" for ntpdate.

  What you want to to next, probably, is decide which package
you want and then purge the other one, and install the desired
one.  I think ntp and ntpdate can co-exist safely, but if 
they can't, the package manager should tell you.

  To purge a package which has already been removed, I believe
you can do "dpkg --purge <file>" on the package file in 
/var/cache/apt/archives, but in your case, it's sufficient to 
remove the sym-links from /etc/rcX.d and the start-up file
from /etc/init.d, since those are the files causing the problems.

 				-- A.
-- 
Andrew Reid / reidac@bellatlantic.net