"date -a" bug? under SunOS4.1

domae at nrtc.northrop.com domae at nrtc.northrop.com
Mon Oct 8 07:30:00 AEST 1990


I've been having a problem using the "date -a" command under SunOS4.1.
More specifically, issuing a "date -a +20" does drift the clock 20
seconds, but then it drifts back again to the original time.  This problem
also seems to effect the operation of ntp (network time protocol).

I even attempted to write a little C program to exercise the adjtime
system call (code below). Well, the same thing happens.  As a side note,
using date without the -a option (to explicitly set the time) works as it
should.  Clearly, this points to the implementation of adjtime() in the
kernel.

>>	#include <sys/time.h>
>>
>>	main ()
>>	{
>>       	struct timeval foo;
>>
>>       	foo.tv_sec=20;
>>      	adjtime (&foo, (char *) 0);
>>	}

Has anyone else experienced this problem?  Is there a known fix?

Terry Domae
Northrop Research and Technology Center



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