NTPWAIT

Section: NTPsec (8)
Updated: 2021-02-01
Page Index

NAME

ntpwait - wait for ntpd to stabilize the system clock

SYNOPSIS

ntpwait [-vV] [-n number] [-s secs]

DESCRIPTION

The ntpwait program blocks until ntpd is in synchronized state. This can be useful at boot time, to delay the boot sequence until after "ntpd -g" has set the time.

ntpwait will send at most number queries to ntpd(8), sleeping for secs seconds after each status return that says ntpd(8) has not yet produced a synchronized and stable system clock.

ntpwait will do this quietly, unless the -v flag is provided.

OPTIONS

-n number, --tries=number

: Number of times to check ntpd. This option takes an integer number as its argument. The default number for this option is: 100.
The maximum number of times we will check ntpd to see if it has been able to synchronize and stabilize the system clock.

-s secs-between-tries, --sleep=secs-between-tries

: How long to sleep between tries. This option takes an integer number as its argument. The default secs-between-tries for this option is: 6.
We will sleep for secs-between-tries after each query of ntpd that returns "the time is not yet stable".

-v, --verbose

: Be verbose.
By default, ntpwait is silent. With this option, ntpwait will provide status information, including time to synchronization in seconds.

-V, --version

: Print the version string and exit.

BUGS

If you are running Python at a version older than 3.3, the report on time to synchronization may be thrown off by NTP clock stepping.

EXIT STATUS

One of the following exit values will be returned:

: Successful program execution.

: The operation failed or the command syntax was not valid.

: Operation was interrupted by signal.