NTPWAIT(8)

💖 NTPWAIT 💖

okay bestie, so you know ntpwait(8) from the NTPsec crew? yeah, that one. this is the little boot-time bouncer that stands there with its arms crossed until your clock gets its life together. let's get into it 🫶

---

✨ NAME ✨

ntpwait — wait for ntpd to stabilize the system clock. she just waits. that's the whole job. and she EATS at it 💅

---

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

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

---

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so here's the tea, bestie: the ntpwait program blocks until ntpd is in synchronized state. like, it will literally just sit there. no cap. it does not move on until the clock is behaving.

and why would you want that? boot time, babes. this is the move when you want to delay the boot sequence until after ntpd -g has set the time. iconic behavior honestly, very "we do not proceed until the vibes are correct" of you.

here's the mechanics: ntpwait will send at most number queries to ntpd(8), and it sleeps for secs seconds after each status return that says ntpd(8) has not yet produced a synchronized and stable system clock. so it checks, sleeps, checks, sleeps — a little rhythm, a little routine. it's giving patient queen. 👑

and she does all of this quietly, unless the -v flag is provided. no chatter by default. silent but locked in.

---

✨ 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.

read that again: this is the max number of times we will check ntpd to see if it has been able to synchronize and stabilize the system clock. a hundred tries, bestie. she is nothing if not committed. 🎀

• -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". so it's a lil nap between vibe checks. six seconds of beauty rest by default. 😴

• -v, --verbose — Be verbose.

By default, ntpwait is silent. With this option, ntpwait will provide status information, including time to synchronization in seconds. so if you're nosy (affectionate) this is your girl. she'll tell you exactly how it's going and how long till the clock is ready. 👀

• -V, --version — Print the version string and exit.

short and sweet. she says her version and dips. ✌️

---

✨ BUGS ✨

okay so there's ONE little thing and it's giving "old tech problems": 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. so like, the number she gives you about time-to-sync might be lying a little. not her fault. blame the Python. 💀

---

✨ EXIT STATUS ✨

One of the following exit values will be returned:

1. 0 — Successful program execution. she did it. slay. 🎉
2. 1 — The operation failed or the command syntax was not valid. something went wrong, or you typed it weird. 😭
3. 2 — Operation was interrupted by signal. someone hit her with a signal mid-wait. rude, but okay. ⚡

---

🌸 SEE ALSO 🌸

...okay so the original page doesn't actually give us a SEE ALSO section, so there's nothing to list here. we respect the canon. 🤷‍♀️

---

and that's the whole page, bestie!! go forth and wait for your clock to stabilize, you absolute main character. 💜

sign-off: this whole vibe came from NTPsec, dated 2026-10-21, page NTPWAIT(8). mwah. 😘