using the date command

jekillen jekillen at prodigy.net
Sun Sep 30 19:54:10 PDT 2007


On Sep 30, 2007, at 6:13 PM, RW wrote:

> On Sun, 30 Sep 2007 16:17:30 -0700
> jekillen <jekillen at prodigy.net> wrote:
>
>>
>> On Sep 30, 2007, at 12:48 AM, Bruce Cran wrote:
>
>>> ntpdate is deprecated, you should use "ntpd -q" instead if you want
>>> ntpd to set the time once then exit.  From ntpdate(8):
>>>
>>> Note: The functionality of this program is now available in the
>>> ntpd(8) program.  See the -q command line option in the ntpd(8)
>>> page. After a
>>>     suitable period of mourning, the ntpdate utility is to be
>>> retired from
>>>     this distribution.
>>>
>>> Also, ntpd wil refuse to update the time if the delta is more than
>>> 1000s by default, but you can use the -g option to override this.
>>> To set the date to within a reasonable delta, use something like
>>> "date 200709282027".  If you want to set the time more accurately
>>> using NTP, edit /etc/ntp.conf and add "server pool.ntp.org" to it.
>>> Save it then run "ntpd -q".
>
> And if you then add
>
> ntpd_enable=YES
> ntpdate_enable=YES
>
> to rc.conf, it will all work automatically thereafter. ntpdate will run
> at boot-time followed by ntpd.
>
> The removal of ntpdate is something I'll believe in when it happens.
> ntpd -q is a superior drop-in replace for ntpdate when it's being run
> from cron. OTOH if you run ntpd -q in place of ntpdate at boot (before
> starting ntpd), it adds about 15 seconds to the boot-time for no
> significant benefit.

Thanks for the info.
So ntp, as I understand it, has to have time servers to reference, and 
of course
the system has to be connected to the  public network to contact the 
time servers.
Are there any security issues with ntp? Or, where can I find info on 
security issues
related to ntp?
Update on original question related to the use of date in FreeBSD; I 
finally brightened
up and set the time in the bios.
Jeff K



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