Package: ntpdate
Version: 1:4.2.4p3+dfsg-1
Severity: normal
The ntpdate(8) man page contains some inaccuracies.
1. It is said: "It must be run as root on the local host."
In fact, a normal user can run it with the -q option (this may be useful
to see the offset, even for users who don't have a root access). The
possible changes are:
* Remove the above sentence, as it is obvious that a normal user
won't be able to set the clock.
* Give more details to the -q option.
2. Perhaps the man page should say that ntpdate outputs log messages
to both stdout and stderr.
3. In DIAGNOSTICS, the man page says: "ntpdate's exit status is zero
if it finds a server and updates the clock, and nonzero otherwise."
It is not quite correct if the -q option is used. The man page should
probably say something like:
"ntpdate's exit status is zero if it found a server and could update
the clock, and nonzero otherwise."
(I think "could" makes the following implicit: if an attempt to set
the clock was performed, i.e. if -q was not used.)
Or: "ntpdate's exit status is zero, unless an error occurred (e.g.
the clock could not be updated)."
4. Say that the -q option can output more information (if the user
needs to know the offset, he must use -q if he is a normal user or
if ntpd is running). Indeed:
vin:/home/vlefevre# ntpdate -v 0.debian.pool.ntp.org
26 Aug 23:49:27 ntpdate[17509]: ntpdate [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mon Aug 13 16:20:20
UTC 2007 (1)
26 Aug 23:49:27 ntpdate[17509]: the NTP socket is in use, exiting
vin:/home/vlefevre# ntpdate -q -v 0.debian.pool.ntp.org
26 Aug 23:50:08 ntpdate[17623]: ntpdate [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mon Aug 13 16:20:20
UTC 2007 (1)
server 128.10.252.9, stratum 2, offset 9.049211, delay 0.17226
server 216.165.129.244, stratum 1, offset 9.045689, delay 0.15269
server 218.185.224.8, stratum 2, offset 9.071746, delay 0.33746
server 198.38.16.1, stratum 2, offset 9.047314, delay 0.14766
server 202.89.184.139, stratum 3, offset 9.055082, delay 0.41211
server 212.101.0.10, stratum 2, offset 9.046719, delay 0.04758
server 64.142.1.20, stratum 2, offset 9.044720, delay 0.18730
server 66.180.134.50, stratum 2, offset 9.055440, delay 0.24059
server 69.42.221.102, stratum 3, offset 9.014962, delay 0.19063
server 72.1.138.113, stratum 3, offset 8.887098, delay 0.19800
server 85.21.125.66, stratum 3, offset 9.067956, delay 0.09155
server 86.59.21.34, stratum 2, offset 9.047551, delay 0.06845
server 87.232.1.41, stratum 2, offset 9.035830, delay 0.05179
server 91.121.10.81, stratum 3, offset 9.048685, delay 0.03720
26 Aug 23:50:11 ntpdate[17623]: step time server 216.165.129.244 offset
9.045689 sec
vin:/home/vlefevre#
-- System Information:
Debian Release: lenny/sid
APT prefers unstable
APT policy: (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'stable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Kernel: Linux 2.6.18-5-686-bigmem (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=POSIX, LC_CTYPE=en_US.ISO8859-1 (charmap=ISO-8859-1)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Versions of packages ntpdate depends on:
ii libc6 2.6.1-1+b1 GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii libcap1 1:1.10-14 support for getting/setting POSIX.
ii libssl0.9.8 0.9.8e-6 SSL shared libraries
ii netbase 4.30 Basic TCP/IP networking system
ntpdate recommends no packages.
-- no debconf information
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