RTIME(3)

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💖 RTIME(3) — Library Functions Manual 💖

okay bestie, gather round, we're talking about rtime from the RTIME(3) manual, and it's giving "old-school internet magic" ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

rtime — get remote time 🕰️✨

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/time.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>

int
rtime(struct sockaddr_in *addrp, struct timeval *timep,
    struct timeval *timeout);

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

so basically, the rtime() function goes and consults the Internet Time Server at the address that addrp points to, and then it hands you back the remote time in the timeval struct that timep points to. no cap, that's the whole vibe 💖

normally? it uses the UDP protocol when it's consulting the Time Server. periodt.

the timeout argument is the "how long are we waiting before we give up on a reply" girlie — it says how long the routine should wait before giving up when waiting for a reply. ⏳

but if timeout is specified as NULL? plot twist 🫢 — the routine switches to TCP instead, and it will block until a reply is received from the time server. like, full commitment, no leaving, it's waiting right there. main character energy fr fr 😭

🔥 RETURN VALUES 🔥

  • returns the value 0 if successful 🥳
  • otherwise the value -1 is returned, and the global variable errno is set to indicate the error 💀
bestie if you see a -1, go check errno immediately, that's where the tea is 🍵

✨ AVAILABILITY ✨

the rtime() function is part of libtirpc. 💜

and that's the whole page, bestie 🦋 this little slice of Debian history is dated November 22, 1987, and it's from the Library Functions Manual — RTIME(3), no cap 💅✨

📦 where this page comes from