Ubuntu
ntp package

  1. Yakkety (16.10)
  2. Bug #1593907
  3. Comment #13

Comment 13 for bug 1593907

Revision history for this message
Christian Ehrhardt  (paelzer) wrote : Re: ntpdate startup routine prevents ntp service from launching up on Ubuntu 16.04 server on system boot; manually starting ntp service works: [FIX in DESCRIPTION], just need to apply it and release a new version

Hi Adam,
thanks for thinking through the potential regressions with me here.
I think the one you mentioned on top is not a real one.
Let me explain why:

There is:
root@artful-test:~# cat /etc/default/ntp
NTPD_OPTS='-g'

And -g is defined as:

Defined as:
-g Normally, ntpd exits with a message to the system log if the offset exceeds the panic
       threshold, which is 1000 s by default.
       This option allows the time to be set to any value without restriction; however, this can
       happen only once. If the threshold is exceeded after that, ntpd will exit with a
       message to the system log. This option can be used with the -q and -x options.

I checked how much that is true backward in releases, but it seems safe.
root@trusty-test:~# cat /etc/default/ntp
NTPD_OPTS='-g'

So in the default setup ntp will do the adjustment and not refuse/drift-of-doom.
If a user explicitly changed that option we actually fix another issue with the SRU here.
The user that dropped the -g would expect not to do the major adjustment on his ntp, but the stop/ntpdate/start loop would do so.

Please get in touch with me again if you do not agree.

That said - please reconsider for Trusty sponsoring and SRU acceptance