Package: fake-hwclock Severity: important Tags: patch
I've just written a manpage for fake-hwclock. Patch containing the manpage is attached
This is my first attempt at writing a manpage so please give constructive criticism.
diff -urN fake-hwclock-0.4/debian/fake-hwclock.manpages fake-hwclock-0.4.new/debian/fake-hwclock.manpages --- fake-hwclock-0.4/debian/fake-hwclock.manpages 1970-01-01 01:00:00.000000000 +0100 +++ fake-hwclock-0.4.new/debian/fake-hwclock.manpages 2012-04-05 03:00:37.000000000 +0100 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +fake-hwclock.8 diff -urN fake-hwclock-0.4/debian/rules fake-hwclock-0.4.new/debian/rules --- fake-hwclock-0.4/debian/rules 2012-03-05 16:30:28.000000000 +0000 +++ fake-hwclock-0.4.new/debian/rules 2012-04-05 02:57:50.000000000 +0100 @@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ dh_installdocs dh_installcron dh_installinit --no-start -- start 02 S . stop 02 0 1 6 . + dh_installman dh_compress dh_fixperms dh_installdeb diff -urN fake-hwclock-0.4/fake-hwclock.8 fake-hwclock-0.4.new/fake-hwclock.8 --- fake-hwclock-0.4/fake-hwclock.8 1970-01-01 01:00:00.000000000 +0100 +++ fake-hwclock-0.4.new/fake-hwclock.8 2012-04-05 02:26:20.000000000 +0100 @@ -0,0 +1,57 @@ +.TH FAKE-HWCLOCK 8 "5 April 2012" Debian +.SH NAME +fake-hwclock \- Control fake hardware clock +.SH SYNOPSIS +\fBfake-hwclock\fP [ \fIcommand\fP ] [ \fBforce\fP ] +.SH BACKGROUND +Many embedded Linux systems do not have a functional hardware clock. Either +they simply don't have a hardware clock at all or they have a hardware clock +but it is not usable (e.g. because Linux doesn't know how to use it or because +no battery is present). + +This can lead to time moving backwards to some default value (often 1970) when +the system is rebooted. Since lots of software assumes that time only moves +forward this is a bad thing. NTP can (and should where practical) be used to +sync with an external timeserver but it is not available early in the boot +process and may be unavailable for other reasons. +.SH DESCRIPTION +\fBfake-hwclock\fP sets and queries a fake "hardware clock" which stores the +time in a file. This program may be run by the system administer directly but is +typically run by init (to load the time on startup and save it on shutdown) +and cron (to save the time hourly). + +If no command is given then fake-hwclock acts as if the save command was used. +.SH COMMANDS +.SS +.TP +\fBsave\fP +Save the time to the file. +.TP +\fBload\fP +Load the time from the file. If force is specified fake-hwclock will move the +clock either backwards or forwards. Otherwise it will only move it forwards. +.SH FILES +.SS +.TP +\fB/etc/fake-hwclock.data\fR +The file used to store the time +.TP +\fB/etc/init.d/fake-hwclock\fR +The init script used to run fake-hwclock on startup and shutdown +.TP +\fB/etc/default/fake-hwclock\fR +Settings file for the init script. +.TP +\fB/etc/cron.hourly/fake-hwclock\fR +Cron job used to save the time hourly +.SH ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES +.SS +.TP +\fBFILE\fR +set the file used by fake-hwclock +.SH RETURN VALUES +1 is returned for invalid commands. 0 is returned in all other cases. +.SH BUGS +This approach can only provide a crude approximation of what a real hardware +clock provides. Use of NTP or another method to keep the time in sync is +strongly advised.
