ntp-wait(1)

💅 ntp-wait — the manual page, but make it make sense

hey bestie, welcome to ntp-wait(1) — a User Commands situation, and honestly? it's giving "patient friend waiting for the group chat to settle down." 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

ntp-wait — wait for ntpd to stabilize the system clock ⏰

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

ntp-wait [-flags] [-flag [value]] [--option-name[[=| ]value]]

okay and here's the vibe check on the synopsis: all arguments must be options. that's it. no stray little words, no random filenames, no "oops I typed extra." literally just options, periodt. 💅

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so here's what's actually happening. ntp-wait sends at most num-tries queries to ntpd(8), and between each one it sleeps for secs-between-tries. it only sleeps after a status return that says ntpd(8) has not yet produced a synchronized and stable system clock. like, it's not out here sleeping for fun — it sleeps because the clock said "not yet, bestie." 😭

and it does all of this quietly, unless you pass the -v flag. no cap, it's silent by default.

why would you want this? lowkey it's iconic at boot time: use it to delay the boot sequence until after ntpd -g has set the time. 🌈

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🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• -n number, --tries=number — how many times we're gonna check on ntpd. takes an integer number as its argument. default number for this option is:

100

and that's the maximum number of times we will check ntpd to see if it has been able to synchronize and stabilize the system clock. it's giving persistent. 👑

• -s secs-between-tries, --sleep=secs-between-tries — how long to nap between tries. 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". a little beauty rest, as a treat. 😴

• -v, --verbose — be verbose. by default, ntp-wait is silent. with this option, ntp-wait will provide status information. she's talking now. 🗣️✨
• -?, --help — display usage information and exit.
• -!, --more-help — pass the extended usage information through a pager.
• -v [{v|c|n --version [{v|c|n}]}] — output version of program and exit. the default mode is v, a simple version. the c mode will print copyright information and n will print the full copyright notice. (yes, -v shows up twice in this list — that's not a typo, that's just how it is, iykyk. 🫠)

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💀 EXIT STATUS 💀

one of the following exit values will be returned. memorize these, they're literally your report card:

• 0 (EXIT_SUCCESS) — successful program execution. slay. ✨
• 1 (EXIT_FAILURE) — the operation failed or the command syntax was not valid. not slay. 😭
• 70 (EX_SOFTWARE) — libopts had an internal operational error. please report it to autogen-users@lists.sourceforge.net. thank you.

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🔥 AUTHORS 🔥

Harlan Stenn — yes, the main character. 👑

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⭐ NOTES ⭐

• this document corresponds to version 4.2.8p18 of NTP.
• this manual page was AutoGen-erated from the ntp-wait option definitions. not hand-written, auto-generated, and honestly that tracks. 🧚

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💖 no cap: if ntpd isn't stabilizing, ntp-wait will just keep checking up to number times, snoozing secs-between-tries in between. it's loyal like that.

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and that's the whole page! 🌸 one last cute lil sign-off: this was ntp version 4.2.8p18, dated 25 May 2024, and it's the ntp-wait(1) page. mwah. 🎀💜