Bug#838031: task-laptop: Add 'ntp' to list of recommended packages.

[Nathaniel Beaver]

By default, machines running Debian Jessie will still be susceptible to 
drifting clocks because Jessie's version of systemd is 215-17+deb8u5, 
which is behind 219-1. I have confirmed the clock drift (1 second slow) 
and also the fix on a vanilla Jessie VM.



$ timedatectl status | grep NTP
 NTP enabled: no
NTP synchronized: no


After enabling systemd's NTP daemon:


$ timedatectl set-ntp true


and waiting a bit:


$ timedatectl status | grep NTP
 NTP enabled: yes
NTP synchronized: yes


Note that this method has the advantage of not requiring sudo privileges.

To summarize, the options I see are:

- enable systemd's ntp daemon

- install the jessie-backports version of systemd (version 230-7~bpo8+2)

- install a standalone ntp package

Cheers,

Nathaniel

On 09/16/2016 08:00 PM, Nicholas D Steeves wrote:

On Fri, Sep 16, 2016 at 08:55:19PM +0300, Michael Tokarev wrote:

16.09.2016 20:51, Ben Hutchings wrote:

We should install a minimal NTP client by default.  Not ntp, it's far
more complex than needed and (partly as a result of that) has a poor
security record.


Systemd comes with systemd-timesyncd these days, JFYI.


Is the addition systemd-timesyncd documented somewhere?  'just
something along the lines of "Simple ntpdate-like time synchronisation
is now provided by systemd".  I read the NEWS when upgrading and
didn't notice this change.

Does the laptop task support non-systemd inits?  If so,
would there be a benefit to a systemd | ntpdate (or alternative)
dependency for the task?


Cheers,
Nicholas

P.S. Is openntpd the defacto standard these days, for servers?

Bug#838031: task-laptop: Add 'ntp' to list of recommended packages.

[Nicholas D Steeves]

On Fri, Sep 16, 2016 at 08:55:19PM +0300, Michael Tokarev wrote:
> 16.09.2016 20:51, Ben Hutchings wrote:
> >We should install a minimal NTP client by default.  Not ntp, it's far
> >more complex than needed and (partly as a result of that) has a poor
> >security record.
> 
> Systemd comes with systemd-timesyncd these days, JFYI.

Is the addition systemd-timesyncd documented somewhere?  'just
something along the lines of "Simple ntpdate-like time synchronisation
is now provided by systemd".  I read the NEWS when upgrading and
didn't notice this change.

Does the laptop task support non-systemd inits?  If so,
would there be a benefit to a systemd | ntpdate (or alternative)
dependency for the task?


Cheers,
Nicholas

P.S. Is openntpd the defacto standard these days, for servers?


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Bug#838031: task-laptop: Add 'ntp' to list of recommended packages.

[Lennart Sorensen]

On Fri, Sep 16, 2016 at 08:55:19PM +0300, Michael Tokarev wrote:
> Systemd comes with systemd-timesyncd these days, JFYI.

Well that's sntp not ntp, so not really the same thing.  I guess for a
laptop you might find it good enough.

-- 
Len Sorensen

Bug#838031: task-laptop: Add 'ntp' to list of recommended packages.

[Vincent Blut]

On Fri, 16 Sep 2016 20:55:19 +0300 Michael Tokarev  
wrote:

> 16.09.2016 20:51, Ben Hutchings wrote:
> > We should install a minimal NTP client by default.  Not ntp, it's 
far
> > more complex than needed and (partly as a result of that) has a 
poor

> > security record.
>
> Systemd comes with systemd-timesyncd these days, JFYI.

Indeed, it is enable by default since systemd 219-1.

> Thanks,
>
> /mjt
> > Ben.

Cheers,
Vincent

Bug#838031: task-laptop: Add 'ntp' to list of recommended packages.

[Michael Tokarev]

16.09.2016 20:51, Ben Hutchings wrote:

We should install a minimal NTP client by default.  Not ntp, it's far
more complex than needed and (partly as a result of that) has a poor
security record.


Systemd comes with systemd-timesyncd these days, JFYI.

Thanks,

/mjt

Ben.

Bug#838031: task-laptop: Add 'ntp' to list of recommended packages.

[Ben Hutchings]

On Fri, 2016-09-16 at 11:27 -0500, Nathaniel Beaver wrote:
> Package: task-laptop
> Version: 3.31+deb8u1
> Severity: wishlist
> Tags: patch
> 
> Hi,
> 
> When I didn't have 'ntp' installed on my laptop, I found that the clock 
> drifted significantly from the true time. (It was almost four minutes 
> fast when I noticed it last fall!)
> 
> To help other Debian users avoid this, I think adding ntp to the list of 
> recommended packages would be helpful. I've attached a patch that I 
> think does that.

We should install a minimal NTP client by default.  Not ntp, it's far
more complex than needed and (partly as a result of that) has a poor
security record.

Ben.

-- 
Ben Hutchings
All extremists should be taken out and shot.


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Bug#838031: task-laptop: Add 'ntp' to list of recommended packages.

[Lennart Sorensen]

On Fri, Sep 16, 2016 at 11:27:21AM -0500, Nathaniel Beaver wrote:
> Package: task-laptop
> Version: 3.31+deb8u1
> Severity: wishlist
> Tags: patch
> 
> Hi,
> 
> When I didn't have 'ntp' installed on my laptop, I found that the clock
> drifted significantly from the true time. (It was almost four minutes fast
> when I noticed it last fall!)
> 
> To help other Debian users avoid this, I think adding ntp to the list of
> recommended packages would be helpful. I've attached a patch that I think
> does that.

That's hardly laptop specific.  ntp makes just as much sense on desktops
and servers.  Clearly the laptop task would not be the right place.

-- 
Len Sorensen

Bug#838031: task-laptop: Add 'ntp' to list of recommended packages.

[Nathaniel Beaver]

Package: task-laptop
Version: 3.31+deb8u1
Severity: wishlist
Tags: patch

Hi,

When I didn't have 'ntp' installed on my laptop, I found that the clock 
drifted significantly from the true time. (It was almost four minutes 
fast when I noticed it last fall!)


To help other Debian users avoid this, I think adding ntp to the list of 
recommended packages would be helpful. I've attached a patch that I 
think does that.


Thanks,

Nathaniel Beaver

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 8.5
  APT prefers stable
  APT policy: (500, 'stable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Foreign Architectures: i386

Kernel: Linux 4.6.0-0.bpo.1-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.utf8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.utf8 (charmap=UTF-8) (ignored: 
LC_ALL set to en_US.UTF-8)

Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)

Versions of packages task-laptop depends on:
ii  anacron  2.3-23
ii  tasksel  3.31+deb8u1

Versions of packages task-laptop recommends:
ii  acpi1.7-1
ii  avahi-autoipd   0.6.31-5
ii  bluetooth   5.23-2
ii  iw  3.17-1
ii  powertop2.6.1-1
ii  wireless-tools  30~pre9-8
ii  wpasupplicant   2.3-1+deb8u3

task-laptop suggests no packages.

-- no debconf information
>From 5a38aa3aaddabc453d773232c6e32da7b50c5ee1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Nathaniel Beaver 
Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2016 11:23:29 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] Add ntp to prevent clock drift on laptops.

---
 debian/control | 1 +
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)

diff --git a/debian/control b/debian/control
index c87cb53..a5f57ab 100644
--- a/debian/control
+++ b/debian/control
@@ -294,6 +294,7 @@ Depends: ${misc:Depends},
 Recommends:
 	avahi-autoipd,
 	bluetooth,
+	ntp,
 	powertop,
 # wireless networking tools
 	iw,
-- 
2.1.4