xref: /freebsd/contrib/ntp/sntp/sntp.html (revision e8e8c939350bdf3c228a411caa9660c607c27a11)
1<html lang="en">
2<head>
3<title>Sntp User's Manual</title>
4<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html">
5<meta name="description" content="Sntp User's Manual">
6<meta name="generator" content="makeinfo 4.7">
7<link title="Top" rel="top" href="#Top">
8<link href="http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/" rel="generator-home" title="Texinfo Homepage">
9<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css">
10<style type="text/css"><!--
11  pre.display { font-family:inherit }
12  pre.format  { font-family:inherit }
13  pre.smalldisplay { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller }
14  pre.smallformat  { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller }
15  pre.smallexample { font-size:smaller }
16  pre.smalllisp    { font-size:smaller }
17  span.sc { font-variant:small-caps }
18  span.roman { font-family: serif; font-weight: normal; }
19--></style>
20</head>
21<body>
22<h1 class="settitle">Sntp User's Manual</h1>
23<div class="node">
24<p><hr>
25<a name="Top"></a>Next:&nbsp;<a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="#sntp-Description">sntp Description</a>,
26Previous:&nbsp;<a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="#dir">(dir)</a>,
27Up:&nbsp;<a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="#dir">(dir)</a>
28<br>
29</div>
30
31<h2 class="unnumbered">Simple Network Time Protocol User Manual</h2>
32
33<p>This document describes the use of the NTP Project's <code>sntp</code> program,
34that can be used to query a Network Time Protocol (NTP) server and
35display the time offset of the system clock relative to the server
36clock.  Run as root, it can correct the system clock to this offset as
37well.  It can be run as an interactive command or from a cron job.
38
39  <p>This document applies to version 4.2.8p2 of <code>sntp</code>.
40
41  <p>The program implements the SNTP protocol as defined by RFC 5905, the NTPv4
42IETF specification.
43
44  <div class="shortcontents">
45<h2>Short Contents</h2>
46<ul>
47<a href="#Top">Simple Network Time Protocol User Manual</a>
48</ul>
49</div>
50
51<ul class="menu">
52<li><a accesskey="1" href="#sntp-Description">sntp Description</a>:             Description
53<li><a accesskey="2" href="#sntp-Invocation">sntp Invocation</a>: 		Invoking sntp
54<li><a accesskey="3" href="#Usage">Usage</a>:                        Usage
55</ul>
56
57<div class="node">
58<p><hr>
59<a name="sntp-Description"></a>
60<br>
61</div>
62
63<!-- node-name,  next,  previous,  up -->
64<h3 class="section">Description</h3>
65
66<p>By default, <code>sntp</code> writes the local data and time (i.e., not UTC) to the
67standard output in the format:
68
69<pre class="example">     1996-10-15 20:17:25.123 (+0800) +4.567 +/- 0.089 secs
70</pre>
71  <p>where
72YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS.SUBSEC is the local date and time,
73(+0800) is the local timezone adjustment (so we would add 8 hours and 0 minutes to convert the reported local time to UTC),
74and
75the +4.567 +/- 0.089 secs indicates the time offset and
76error bound of the system clock relative to the server clock.
77
78<div class="node">
79<p><hr>
80<a name="sntp-Invocation"></a>
81<br>
82</div>
83
84<h3 class="section">Invoking sntp</h3>
85
86<p><a name="index-sntp-1"></a><a name="index-standard-Simple-Network-Time-Protocol-client-program-2"></a>
87
88  <p><code>sntp</code>
89can be used as an SNTP client to query a NTP or SNTP server and either display
90the time or set the local system's time (given suitable privilege).  It can be
91run as an interactive command or from a
92<code>cron</code>
93job.
94
95  <p>NTP (the Network Time Protocol) and SNTP (the Simple Network Time Protocol)
96are defined and described by RFC 5905.
97
98  <p>The default is to write the estimated correct local date and time (i.e. not
99UTC) to the standard output in a format like:
100
101  <p><code>'1996-10-15 20:17:25.123 (+0800) +4.567 +/- 0.089 [host] IP sN'</code>
102
103  <p>where the
104<code>'(+0800)'</code>
105means that to get to UTC from the reported local time one must
106add 8 hours and 0 minutes,
107the
108<code>'+4.567'</code>
109indicates the local clock is 4.567 seconds behind the correct time
110(so 4.567 seconds must be added to the local clock to get it to be correct).
111Note that the number of decimals printed for this value will change
112based on the reported precision of the server.
113<code>'+/- 0.089'</code>
114is the reported
115<em>synchronization</em> <em>distance</em>
116(in seconds), which represents the maximum error due to all causes.
117If the server does not report valid data needed to calculate the
118synchronization distance, this will be reported as
119<code>'+/- ?'</code>.
120If the
121<em>host</em>
122is different from the
123<em>IP</em>,
124both will be displayed.
125Otherwise, only the
126<em>IP</em>
127is displayed.
128Finally, the
129<em>stratum</em>
130of the host is reported
131and the leap indicator is decoded and displayed.
132
133  <p>This section was generated by <strong>AutoGen</strong>,
134using the <code>agtexi-cmd</code> template and the option descriptions for the <code>sntp</code> program.
135This software is released under the NTP license, &lt;http://ntp.org/license&gt;.
136
137<ul class="menu">
138<li><a accesskey="1" href="#sntp-usage">sntp usage</a>:                   sntp help/usage (<span class="option">--help</span>)
139<li><a accesskey="2" href="#sntp-ipv4">sntp ipv4</a>:                    ipv4 option (-4)
140<li><a accesskey="3" href="#sntp-ipv6">sntp ipv6</a>:                    ipv6 option (-6)
141<li><a accesskey="4" href="#sntp-authentication">sntp authentication</a>:          authentication option (-a)
142<li><a accesskey="5" href="#sntp-broadcast">sntp broadcast</a>:               broadcast option (-b)
143<li><a accesskey="6" href="#sntp-concurrent">sntp concurrent</a>:              concurrent option (-c)
144<li><a accesskey="7" href="#sntp-gap">sntp gap</a>:                     gap option (-g)
145<li><a accesskey="8" href="#sntp-kod">sntp kod</a>:                     kod option (-K)
146<li><a accesskey="9" href="#sntp-keyfile">sntp keyfile</a>:                 keyfile option (-k)
147<li><a href="#sntp-logfile">sntp logfile</a>:                 logfile option (-l)
148<li><a href="#sntp-steplimit">sntp steplimit</a>:               steplimit option (-M)
149<li><a href="#sntp-ntpversion">sntp ntpversion</a>:              ntpversion option (-o)
150<li><a href="#sntp-usereservedport">sntp usereservedport</a>:         usereservedport option (-r)
151<li><a href="#sntp-timeout">sntp timeout</a>:                 timeout option (-t)
152<li><a href="#sntp-wait">sntp wait</a>:                    wait option
153<li><a href="#sntp-config">sntp config</a>:                  presetting/configuring sntp
154<li><a href="#sntp-exit-status">sntp exit status</a>:             exit status
155<li><a href="#sntp-Usage">sntp Usage</a>:                   Usage
156<li><a href="#sntp-Authors">sntp Authors</a>:                 Authors
157</ul>
158
159<div class="node">
160<p><hr>
161<a name="sntp-usage"></a>Next:&nbsp;<a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="#sntp-ipv4">sntp ipv4</a>,
162Up:&nbsp;<a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="#sntp-Invocation">sntp Invocation</a>
163<br>
164</div>
165
166<h4 class="subsection">sntp help/usage (<span class="option">--help</span>)</h4>
167
168<p><a name="index-sntp-help-3"></a>
169This is the automatically generated usage text for sntp.
170
171  <p>The text printed is the same whether selected with the <code>help</code> option
172(<span class="option">--help</span>) or the <code>more-help</code> option (<span class="option">--more-help</span>).  <code>more-help</code> will print
173the usage text by passing it through a pager program.
174<code>more-help</code> is disabled on platforms without a working
175<code>fork(2)</code> function.  The <code>PAGER</code> environment variable is
176used to select the program, defaulting to <span class="file">more</span>.  Both will exit
177with a status code of 0.
178
179<pre class="example">sntp - standard Simple Network Time Protocol client program - Ver. 4.2.8p2
180Usage:  sntp [ -&lt;flag&gt; [&lt;val&gt;] | --&lt;name&gt;[{=| }&lt;val&gt;] ]... \
181                [ hostname-or-IP ...]
182  Flg Arg Option-Name    Description
183   -4 no  ipv4           Force IPv4 DNS name resolution
184                                - prohibits the option 'ipv6'
185   -6 no  ipv6           Force IPv6 DNS name resolution
186                                - prohibits the option 'ipv4'
187   -a Num authentication Enable authentication with the key auth-keynumber
188   -b Str broadcast      Listen to the address specified for broadcast time sync
189                                - may appear multiple times
190   -c Str concurrent     Concurrently query all IPs returned for host-name
191                                - may appear multiple times
192   -d no  debug-level    Increase debug verbosity level
193                                - may appear multiple times
194   -D Num set-debug-level Set the debug verbosity level
195                                - may appear multiple times
196   -g Num gap            The gap (in milliseconds) between time requests
197   -K Fil kod            KoD history filename
198   -k Fil keyfile        Look in this file for the key specified with -a
199   -l Fil logfile        Log to specified logfile
200   -M Num steplimit      Adjustments less than steplimit msec will be slewed
201                                - it must be in the range:
202                                  greater than or equal to 0
203   -o Num ntpversion     Send int as our NTP protocol version
204                                - it must be in the range:
205                                  0 to 7
206   -r no  usereservedport Use the NTP Reserved Port (port 123)
207   -S no  step           OK to 'step' the time with settimeofday(2)
208   -s no  slew           OK to 'slew' the time with adjtime(2)
209   -t Num timeout        The number of seconds to wait for responses
210      no  wait           Wait for pending replies (if not setting the time)
211                                - disabled as '--no-wait'
212                                - enabled by default
213      opt version        output version information and exit
214   -? no  help           display extended usage information and exit
215   -! no  more-help      extended usage information passed thru pager
216   -&gt; opt save-opts      save the option state to a config file
217   -&lt; Str load-opts      load options from a config file
218                                - disabled as '--no-load-opts'
219                                - may appear multiple times
220
221Options are specified by doubled hyphens and their name or by a single
222hyphen and the flag character.
223
224
225The following option preset mechanisms are supported:
226 - reading file $HOME/.ntprc
227 - reading file ./.ntprc
228 - examining environment variables named SNTP_*
229
230Please send bug reports to:  &lt;http://bugs.ntp.org, bugs@ntp.org&gt;
231</pre>
232  <div class="node">
233<p><hr>
234<a name="sntp-ipv4"></a>Next:&nbsp;<a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="#sntp-ipv6">sntp ipv6</a>,
235Previous:&nbsp;<a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="#sntp-usage">sntp usage</a>,
236Up:&nbsp;<a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="#sntp-Invocation">sntp Invocation</a>
237<br>
238</div>
239
240<h4 class="subsection">ipv4 option (-4)</h4>
241
242<p><a name="index-sntp_002dipv4-4"></a>
243This is the &ldquo;force ipv4 dns name resolution&rdquo; option.
244
245<p class="noindent">This option has some usage constraints.  It:
246     <ul>
247<li>must not appear in combination with any of the following options:
248ipv6.
249</ul>
250
251  <p>Force DNS resolution of the following host names on the command line
252to the IPv4 namespace.
253<div class="node">
254<p><hr>
255<a name="sntp-ipv6"></a>Next:&nbsp;<a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="#sntp-authentication">sntp authentication</a>,
256Previous:&nbsp;<a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="#sntp-ipv4">sntp ipv4</a>,
257Up:&nbsp;<a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="#sntp-Invocation">sntp Invocation</a>
258<br>
259</div>
260
261<h4 class="subsection">ipv6 option (-6)</h4>
262
263<p><a name="index-sntp_002dipv6-5"></a>
264This is the &ldquo;force ipv6 dns name resolution&rdquo; option.
265
266<p class="noindent">This option has some usage constraints.  It:
267     <ul>
268<li>must not appear in combination with any of the following options:
269ipv4.
270</ul>
271
272  <p>Force DNS resolution of the following host names on the command line
273to the IPv6 namespace.
274<div class="node">
275<p><hr>
276<a name="sntp-authentication"></a>Next:&nbsp;<a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="#sntp-broadcast">sntp broadcast</a>,
277Previous:&nbsp;<a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="#sntp-ipv6">sntp ipv6</a>,
278Up:&nbsp;<a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="#sntp-Invocation">sntp Invocation</a>
279<br>
280</div>
281
282<h4 class="subsection">authentication option (-a)</h4>
283
284<p><a name="index-sntp_002dauthentication-6"></a>
285This is the &ldquo;enable authentication with the key <var>auth-keynumber</var>&rdquo; option.
286This option takes a number argument <span class="file">auth-keynumber</span>.
287Enable authentication using the key specified in this option's
288argument.  The argument of this option is the <span class="option">keyid</span>, a
289number specified in the <span class="option">keyfile</span> as this key's identifier.
290See the <span class="option">keyfile</span> option (<span class="option">-k</span>) for more details.
291<div class="node">
292<p><hr>
293<a name="sntp-broadcast"></a>Next:&nbsp;<a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="#sntp-concurrent">sntp concurrent</a>,
294Previous:&nbsp;<a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="#sntp-authentication">sntp authentication</a>,
295Up:&nbsp;<a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="#sntp-Invocation">sntp Invocation</a>
296<br>
297</div>
298
299<h4 class="subsection">broadcast option (-b)</h4>
300
301<p><a name="index-sntp_002dbroadcast-7"></a>
302This is the &ldquo;listen to the address specified for broadcast time sync&rdquo; option.
303This option takes a string argument <span class="file">broadcast-address</span>.
304
305<p class="noindent">This option has some usage constraints.  It:
306     <ul>
307<li>may appear an unlimited number of times.
308</ul>
309
310  <p>If specified <code>sntp</code> will listen to the specified address
311for NTP broadcasts.  The default maximum wait time
312can (and probably should) be modified with <span class="option">-t</span>.
313<div class="node">
314<p><hr>
315<a name="sntp-concurrent"></a>Next:&nbsp;<a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="#sntp-gap">sntp gap</a>,
316Previous:&nbsp;<a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="#sntp-broadcast">sntp broadcast</a>,
317Up:&nbsp;<a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="#sntp-Invocation">sntp Invocation</a>
318<br>
319</div>
320
321<h4 class="subsection">concurrent option (-c)</h4>
322
323<p><a name="index-sntp_002dconcurrent-8"></a>
324This is the &ldquo;concurrently query all ips returned for host-name&rdquo; option.
325This option takes a string argument <span class="file">host-name</span>.
326
327<p class="noindent">This option has some usage constraints.  It:
328     <ul>
329<li>may appear an unlimited number of times.
330</ul>
331
332  <p>Requests from an NTP "client" to a "server" should never be sent
333more rapidly than one every 2 seconds.  By default, any IPs returned
334as part of a DNS lookup are assumed to be for a single instance of
335<code>ntpd</code>, and therefore <code>sntp</code> will send queries to these IPs
336one after another, with a 2-second gap in between each query.
337
338  <p>The <span class="option">-c</span> or <span class="option">--concurrent</span> flag says that any IPs
339returned for the DNS lookup of the supplied host-name are on
340different machines, so we can send concurrent queries.
341<div class="node">
342<p><hr>
343<a name="sntp-gap"></a>Next:&nbsp;<a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="#sntp-kod">sntp kod</a>,
344Previous:&nbsp;<a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="#sntp-concurrent">sntp concurrent</a>,
345Up:&nbsp;<a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="#sntp-Invocation">sntp Invocation</a>
346<br>
347</div>
348
349<h4 class="subsection">gap option (-g)</h4>
350
351<p><a name="index-sntp_002dgap-9"></a>
352This is the &ldquo;the gap (in milliseconds) between time requests&rdquo; option.
353This option takes a number argument <span class="file">milliseconds</span>.
354Since we're only going to use the first valid response we get and
355there is benefit to specifying a good number of servers to query,
356separate the queries we send out by the specified number of
357milliseconds.
358<div class="node">
359<p><hr>
360<a name="sntp-kod"></a>Next:&nbsp;<a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="#sntp-keyfile">sntp keyfile</a>,
361Previous:&nbsp;<a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="#sntp-gap">sntp gap</a>,
362Up:&nbsp;<a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="#sntp-Invocation">sntp Invocation</a>
363<br>
364</div>
365
366<h4 class="subsection">kod option (-K)</h4>
367
368<p><a name="index-sntp_002dkod-10"></a>
369This is the &ldquo;kod history filename&rdquo; option.
370This option takes a file argument <span class="file">file-name</span>.
371Specifies the filename to be used for the persistent history of KoD
372responses received from servers.  If the file does not exist, a
373warning message will be displayed.  The file will not be created.
374<div class="node">
375<p><hr>
376<a name="sntp-keyfile"></a>Next:&nbsp;<a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="#sntp-logfile">sntp logfile</a>,
377Previous:&nbsp;<a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="#sntp-kod">sntp kod</a>,
378Up:&nbsp;<a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="#sntp-Invocation">sntp Invocation</a>
379<br>
380</div>
381
382<h4 class="subsection">keyfile option (-k)</h4>
383
384<p><a name="index-sntp_002dkeyfile-11"></a>
385This is the &ldquo;look in this file for the key specified with <span class="option">-a</span>&rdquo; option.
386This option takes a file argument <span class="file">file-name</span>.
387This option specifies the keyfile.
388<code>sntp</code> will search for the key specified with <span class="option">-a</span>
389<span class="file">keyno</span> in this file.  See <span class="command">ntp.keys(5)</span> for more
390information.
391<div class="node">
392<p><hr>
393<a name="sntp-logfile"></a>Next:&nbsp;<a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="#sntp-steplimit">sntp steplimit</a>,
394Previous:&nbsp;<a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="#sntp-keyfile">sntp keyfile</a>,
395Up:&nbsp;<a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="#sntp-Invocation">sntp Invocation</a>
396<br>
397</div>
398
399<h4 class="subsection">logfile option (-l)</h4>
400
401<p><a name="index-sntp_002dlogfile-12"></a>
402This is the &ldquo;log to specified logfile&rdquo; option.
403This option takes a file argument <span class="file">file-name</span>.
404This option causes the client to write log messages to the specified
405<span class="file">logfile</span>.
406<div class="node">
407<p><hr>
408<a name="sntp-steplimit"></a>Next:&nbsp;<a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="#sntp-ntpversion">sntp ntpversion</a>,
409Previous:&nbsp;<a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="#sntp-logfile">sntp logfile</a>,
410Up:&nbsp;<a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="#sntp-Invocation">sntp Invocation</a>
411<br>
412</div>
413
414<h4 class="subsection">steplimit option (-M)</h4>
415
416<p><a name="index-sntp_002dsteplimit-13"></a>
417This is the &ldquo;adjustments less than <var>steplimit</var> msec will be slewed&rdquo; option.
418This option takes a number argument.
419If the time adjustment is less than <span class="file">steplimit</span> milliseconds,
420slew the amount using <span class="command">adjtime(2)</span>.  Otherwise, step the
421correction using <span class="command">settimeofday(2)</span>.  The default value is 0,
422which means all adjustments will be stepped.  This is a feature, as
423different situations demand different values.
424<div class="node">
425<p><hr>
426<a name="sntp-ntpversion"></a>Next:&nbsp;<a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="#sntp-usereservedport">sntp usereservedport</a>,
427Previous:&nbsp;<a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="#sntp-steplimit">sntp steplimit</a>,
428Up:&nbsp;<a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="#sntp-Invocation">sntp Invocation</a>
429<br>
430</div>
431
432<h4 class="subsection">ntpversion option (-o)</h4>
433
434<p><a name="index-sntp_002dntpversion-14"></a>
435This is the &ldquo;send <var>int</var> as our ntp protocol version&rdquo; option.
436This option takes a number argument.
437When sending requests to a remote server, tell them we are running
438NTP protocol version <span class="file">ntpversion</span> .
439<div class="node">
440<p><hr>
441<a name="sntp-usereservedport"></a>Next:&nbsp;<a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="#sntp-timeout">sntp timeout</a>,
442Previous:&nbsp;<a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="#sntp-ntpversion">sntp ntpversion</a>,
443Up:&nbsp;<a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="#sntp-Invocation">sntp Invocation</a>
444<br>
445</div>
446
447<h4 class="subsection">usereservedport option (-r)</h4>
448
449<p><a name="index-sntp_002dusereservedport-15"></a>
450This is the &ldquo;use the ntp reserved port (port 123)&rdquo; option.
451Use port 123, which is reserved for NTP, for our network
452communications.
453<div class="node">
454<p><hr>
455<a name="sntp-timeout"></a>Next:&nbsp;<a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="#sntp-wait">sntp wait</a>,
456Previous:&nbsp;<a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="#sntp-usereservedport">sntp usereservedport</a>,
457Up:&nbsp;<a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="#sntp-Invocation">sntp Invocation</a>
458<br>
459</div>
460
461<h4 class="subsection">timeout option (-t)</h4>
462
463<p><a name="index-sntp_002dtimeout-16"></a>
464This is the &ldquo;the number of seconds to wait for responses&rdquo; option.
465This option takes a number argument <span class="file">seconds</span>.
466When waiting for a reply, <code>sntp</code> will wait the number
467of seconds specified before giving up.  The default should be
468more than enough for a unicast response.  If <code>sntp</code> is
469only waiting for a broadcast response a longer timeout is
470likely needed.
471<div class="node">
472<p><hr>
473<a name="sntp-wait"></a>Next:&nbsp;<a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="#sntp-config">sntp config</a>,
474Previous:&nbsp;<a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="#sntp-timeout">sntp timeout</a>,
475Up:&nbsp;<a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="#sntp-Invocation">sntp Invocation</a>
476<br>
477</div>
478
479<h4 class="subsection">wait option</h4>
480
481<p><a name="index-sntp_002dwait-17"></a>
482This is the &ldquo;wait for pending replies (if not setting the time)&rdquo; option.
483
484<p class="noindent">This option has some usage constraints.  It:
485     <ul>
486<li>can be disabled with &ndash;no-wait.
487<li>It is enabled by default.
488</ul>
489
490  <p>If we are not setting the time, wait for all pending responses.
491
492<div class="node">
493<p><hr>
494<a name="sntp-config"></a>Next:&nbsp;<a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="#sntp-exit-status">sntp exit status</a>,
495Previous:&nbsp;<a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="#sntp-wait">sntp wait</a>,
496Up:&nbsp;<a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="#sntp-Invocation">sntp Invocation</a>
497<br>
498</div>
499
500<h4 class="subsection">presetting/configuring sntp</h4>
501
502<p>Any option that is not marked as <i>not presettable</i> may be preset by
503loading values from configuration ("rc" or "ini") files, and values from environment variables named <code>SNTP</code> and <code>SNTP_&lt;OPTION_NAME&gt;</code>.  <code>&lt;OPTION_NAME&gt;</code> must be one of
504the options listed above in upper case and segmented with underscores.
505The <code>SNTP</code> variable will be tokenized and parsed like
506the command line.  The remaining variables are tested for existence and their
507values are treated like option arguments.
508
509<p class="noindent"><code>libopts</code> will search in 2 places for configuration files:
510     <ul>
511<li>$HOME
512<li>$PWD
513</ul>
514  The environment variables <code>HOME</code>, and <code>PWD</code>
515are expanded and replaced when <span class="file">sntp</span> runs.
516For any of these that are plain files, they are simply processed.
517For any that are directories, then a file named <span class="file">.ntprc</span> is searched for
518within that directory and processed.
519
520  <p>Configuration files may be in a wide variety of formats.
521The basic format is an option name followed by a value (argument) on the
522same line.  Values may be separated from the option name with a colon,
523equal sign or simply white space.  Values may be continued across multiple
524lines by escaping the newline with a backslash.
525
526  <p>Multiple programs may also share the same initialization file.
527Common options are collected at the top, followed by program specific
528segments.  The segments are separated by lines like:
529<pre class="example">    [SNTP]
530</pre>
531  <p class="noindent">or by
532<pre class="example">    &lt;?program sntp&gt;
533</pre>
534  <p class="noindent">Do not mix these styles within one configuration file.
535
536  <p>Compound values and carefully constructed string values may also be
537specified using XML syntax:
538<pre class="example">    &lt;option-name&gt;
539       &lt;sub-opt&gt;...&amp;lt;...&amp;gt;...&lt;/sub-opt&gt;
540    &lt;/option-name&gt;
541</pre>
542  <p class="noindent">yielding an <code>option-name.sub-opt</code> string value of
543<pre class="example">    "...&lt;...&gt;..."
544</pre>
545  <p><code>AutoOpts</code> does not track suboptions.  You simply note that it is a
546hierarchicly valued option.  <code>AutoOpts</code> does provide a means for searching
547the associated name/value pair list (see: optionFindValue).
548
549  <p>The command line options relating to configuration and/or usage help are:
550
551<h5 class="subsubheading">version (-)</h5>
552
553<p>Print the program version to standard out, optionally with licensing
554information, then exit 0.  The optional argument specifies how much licensing
555detail to provide.  The default is to print just the version.  The licensing infomation may be selected with an option argument.
556Only the first letter of the argument is examined:
557
558     <dl>
559<dt><span class="samp">version</span><dd>Only print the version.  This is the default.
560<br><dt><span class="samp">copyright</span><dd>Name the copyright usage licensing terms.
561<br><dt><span class="samp">verbose</span><dd>Print the full copyright usage licensing terms.
562</dl>
563
564<div class="node">
565<p><hr>
566<a name="sntp-exit-status"></a>Next:&nbsp;<a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="#sntp-Usage">sntp Usage</a>,
567Previous:&nbsp;<a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="#sntp-config">sntp config</a>,
568Up:&nbsp;<a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="#sntp-Invocation">sntp Invocation</a>
569<br>
570</div>
571
572<h4 class="subsection">sntp exit status</h4>
573
574<p>One of the following exit values will be returned:
575     <dl>
576<dt><span class="samp">0 (EXIT_SUCCESS)</span><dd>Successful program execution.
577<br><dt><span class="samp">1 (EXIT_FAILURE)</span><dd>The operation failed or the command syntax was not valid.
578<br><dt><span class="samp">66 (EX_NOINPUT)</span><dd>A specified configuration file could not be loaded.
579<br><dt><span class="samp">70 (EX_SOFTWARE)</span><dd>libopts had an internal operational error.  Please report
580it to autogen-users@lists.sourceforge.net.  Thank you.
581</dl>
582  <div class="node">
583<p><hr>
584<a name="sntp-Usage"></a>Next:&nbsp;<a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="#sntp-Authors">sntp Authors</a>,
585Previous:&nbsp;<a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="#sntp-exit-status">sntp exit status</a>,
586Up:&nbsp;<a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="#sntp-Invocation">sntp Invocation</a>
587<br>
588</div>
589
590<h4 class="subsection">sntp Usage</h4>
591
592<div class="node">
593<p><hr>
594<a name="sntp-Authors"></a>Previous:&nbsp;<a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="#sntp-Usage">sntp Usage</a>,
595Up:&nbsp;<a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="#sntp-Invocation">sntp Invocation</a>
596<br>
597</div>
598
599<h4 class="subsection">sntp Authors</h4>
600
601<div class="node">
602<p><hr>
603<a name="Usage"></a>
604<br>
605</div>
606
607<!-- node-name,  next,  previous,  up -->
608<h3 class="section">Usage</h3>
609
610<p>The simplest use of this program is as an unprivileged command to
611check the current time, offset, and error in the local clock.
612For example:
613
614<pre class="example">    sntp ntpserver.somewhere
615</pre>
616  <p>With suitable privilege, it can be run as a command or in a
617<code>crom</code> job to reset the local clock from a reliable server, like
618the <code>ntpdate</code> and <code>rdate</code> commands.
619For example:
620
621<pre class="example">    sntp -a ntpserver.somewhere
622</pre>
623  </body></html>
624
625