Please enable PPS in the Ubuntu build of ntpd
Bug #1512980 reported by
Mark Shuttleworth
This bug affects 1 person
Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ntp (Ubuntu) |
Fix Released
|
Undecided
|
Kick In |
Bug Description
NTPD includes a reference clock driver called "pps" which uses a modern kernel mechanism for pulse-per-second devices for very accurate timekeeping. PPS is particularly useful for anybody building a stratum 0 GPS-disciplined time server. Please could we enable the PPS driver in Ubuntu's build of NTP?
http://
Thanks,
Mark
Changed in ntp (Ubuntu): | |
assignee: | nobody → Robie Basak (racb) |
Changed in ntp (Ubuntu): | |
status: | New → In Progress |
Changed in ntp (Ubuntu): | |
assignee: | Robie Basak (racb) → Kick In (kick-d) |
Changed in ntp (Ubuntu): | |
status: | In Progress → Fix Committed |
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Some initial analysis to support further decisions
#### Version check ####
Version upstream
4.2.8p4 2015/10/21
Latest versions in Ubuntu p3+dfsg- 1ubuntu3. 6 | precise-security p5+dfsg- 3ubuntu2. 14.04.5 | trusty-security p5+dfsg- 3ubuntu6. 2 | vivid-security p5+dfsg- 3ubuntu8. 1 | wily-security p5+dfsg- 3ubuntu8. 1 | xenial
1:4.2.6.
1:4.2.6.
1:4.2.6.
1:4.2.6.
1:4.2.6.
Latest versions in Debian p2+dfsg- 1+b1 | squeeze p2+dfsg- 1+deb6u4 | squeeze-lts p5+dfsg- 2+deb7u6 | wheezy-security p5+dfsg- 7+deb8u1 | jessie-security
1:4.2.6.
1:4.2.6.
1:4.2.6.
1:4.2.6.p5+dfsg-7 | jessie
1:4.2.6.
1:4.2.8p4+dfsg-3 | stretch
1:4.2.8p4+dfsg-3+b1 | sid
Since Ubuntu is still on 4.2.6 it is worth to check how much the diff 4.2.6p5 to 4.2.8p4 will be.
After doing so it is clear, that this is a new major version.
The changelog between those versions is 2482 entries long.
To the pps functionality alone there were 12 patches.
There are also some preventive security fixing which has no CVE to cause it to go into ubuntu yet which might be worth to leverage.
#### Get it to build ####
Testing "buildability" of debians 4.2.8p4 + PPS in Xenial environment.
A config currently delivers that regarding PPS:
checking for sys/timepps.h... no
checking timepps.h usability... no
checking timepps.h presence... no
checking for timepps.h... no
checking sys/ppsclock.h usability... no
checking sys/ppsclock.h presence... no
checking for sys/ppsclock.h... no
checking sys/ppstime.h usability... no
checking sys/ppstime.h presence... no
checking for sys/ppstime.h... no
checking for struct ppsclockev... no
checking for TTY PPS ioctl TIOCGPPSEV... no
checking for TTY PPS ioctl TIOCSPPS... no
checking for TTY PPS ioctl CIOGETEV... no
checking ATOM PPS interface... yes
checking for sys/timepps.h... no
So most resolve to no due to the lack of sys/timepps.h being around.
The next missing is sys/ppstime.h
There is no explicit pps configure option to be considered, so building with might "just" need providing the headers.
To get those one would "just need" a build dependency to pps-tools.
Installing pps-tools provides sys/timepps.h but that doesn't APPERA to fix everything
checking for sys/timepps.h... yes
checking timepps.h usability... no
checking timepps.h presence... no
checking for timepps.h... no
checking sys/ppsclock.h usability... no
checking sys/ppsclock.h presence... no
checking for sys/ppsclock.h... no
checking sys/ppstime.h usability... no
checking sys/ppstime.h presence... no
checking for sys/ppstime.h... no
checking for struct ppsclockev... no
checking for sys/timepps.h... yes
Most solutions out there for ubuntu/debian recompile ntp and sometimes also the kernel for kernel support. superuser. com/questions/ 828036/ how-can- i-check- whether- my-ntp- daemon- has-pps- support www.worldtimeso lutions. com/support/ ntp/Debian_ Lenny_Linux_ PPS_support_ for_ntpd. html
Whoever works on this should study:
- http://
- http://
ppsclock.h seems to be an older version and we don't have to care too much.
Also these checks refer to older positions of ...