i386/68087: wget core dumps with: Assertion failed: (msecs >= 0), function calc_rate, file retr.c, line 262.

[Jeff Connelly]

>Number:         68087
>Category:       i386
>Synopsis:       wget core dumps with: Assertion failed: (msecs >= 0), function calc_rate, file retr.c, line 262.
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       non-critical
>Priority:       low
>Responsible:    freebsd-i386
>State:          open
>Quarter:        
>Keywords:       
>Date-Required:
>Class:          sw-bug
>Submitter-Id:   current-users
>Arrival-Date:   Fri Jun 18 19:10:23 GMT 2004
>Closed-Date:
>Last-Modified:
>Originator:     Jeff Connelly
>Release:        FreeBSD 5.2-CURRENT #7: Thu Jun 10 15:33:56 PDT 2004
>Organization:
>Environment:
FreeBSD dragon.jeff.tk 5.2-CURRENT FreeBSD 5.2-CURRENT #7: Thu Jun 10 15:33:56 PDT 2004     root at dragon.jeff.tk:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/ASUS  i386

>Description:
Full command and error:
# wget --verbose --mirror --no-host-directories --passive-ftp --no-parent --cut-dirs=4 --output-file=/tmp/wget-gutenberg.log ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg --reject \*.zip
Assertion failed: (msecs >= 0), function calc_rate, file retr.c, line 262.
Abort (core dumped)

The error occured after a few days of downloading, so its not easily reproducible. Most likely it will occur with other wget arguments.

As far as I can tell this is a manifestation of time going backwards.  <20426.837433714 at verdi.nethelp.no> might be the same problem with different software:
Jul  7 14:57:36 verdi xntpd[84]: time reset (step) 0.151413 s
Jul  7 21:34:16 verdi xntpd[84]: time reset (step) 0.133152 s
Jul  9 17:32:48 verdi xntpd[84]: time reset (step) -0.135963 s

I'm submitting this because I didn't find the error message on Google. If you're having this problem try the fix below, however this phenomena is worth investigating in my opinion.
>How-To-Repeat:
Intermittent. Might be a hardware problem.
>Fix:
Fix 1: Apply this patch
# diff retr.c retr.c.bak
262,263d261
<   if (msecs < 0) msecs = 0;
< 

Fix 2: Upgrade hardware? Is there a bug in FreeBSD's time keeping system?

>Release-Note:
>Audit-Trail:
>Unformatted: