xref: /freebsd/sbin/adjkerntz/adjkerntz.8 (revision 7fdf597e96a02165cfe22ff357b857d5fa15ed8a)
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28.Dd July 29, 2024
29.Dt ADJKERNTZ 8
30.Os
31.Sh NAME
32.Nm adjkerntz
33.Nd adjust real-time clock (rtc) and kernel timezone offset
34.Sh SYNOPSIS
35.Nm
36.Fl i
37.Nm
38.Fl a Op Fl s
39.Sh DESCRIPTION
40The
41.Nm
42utility maintains the proper relationship between the kernel clock, which
43is always set to UTC and the real-time clock, which may be set to local time.
44The
45.Nm
46utility also informs the kernel about machine timezone shifts in order to
47maintain proper timestamps for local time file systems such as the MS-DOS
48file system.
49The main purpose of maintaining these timestamps properly is to keep the
50timestamps of a
51.Fx
52MS-DOS file system and an MS-DOS operating system synchronized when they are
53installed on the same system rather than fixing broken MS-DOS file
54timestamps.
55If the file
56.Pa /etc/wall_cmos_clock
57exists, it means that the real-time clock keeps local time
58.Pq MS-DOS and MS-Windows compatible mode .
59If that file does not exist, it means that the real-time clock keeps UTC time.
60The
61.Nm
62utility passes this state to the
63.Va machdep.wall_cmos_clock
64kernel variable.
65.Pp
66Adjustments may be needed at system startup and shutdown, and
67whenever a time zone change occurs.
68To handle these different situations,
69.Nm
70is invoked in two ways:
71.Bl -tag -width "-a [-s]"
72.It Fl i
73This form handles system startups and shutdowns.
74The
75.Nm
76utility is invoked with this option from
77.Pa /etc/rc
78on entry to multi-user mode, before any other daemons have been started.
79The
80.Nm
81utility puts itself into the background.
82Then, for a local time real-time clock,
83.Nm
84reads the local time from it
85and sets the kernel clock to the corresponding UTC time.
86The
87.Nm
88utility also stores the local time zone offset in the
89.Va machdep.adjkerntz
90kernel variable, for use by subsequent invocations of
91.Ql adjkerntz -a
92and by local time file systems.
93.Pp
94For a local time real-time clock
95.Ql adjkerntz -i
96pauses and remains inactive as a background daemon until it
97receives a SIGTERM.
98The SIGTERM will normally be sent by
99.Xr init 8
100when the system leaves multi-user mode
101.Pq usually, because the system is being shut down .
102After receiving the SIGTERM,
103.Nm
104reads the UTC kernel clock and updates the real-time clock, if necessary,
105to ensure that it reflects the current local time zone.
106Then
107.Nm
108exits.
109.It Fl a Op Fl s
110This form is used to update the local time real-time clock and
111.Va machdep.adjkerntz
112kernel variable when time zone changes occur,
113e.g., when entering or leaving daylight savings time.
114The
115.Nm
116utility uses the kernel clock's UTC time,
117the previously stored time zone offset,
118and the changed time zone rule to calculate a new time zone offset.
119It stores the new offset into the
120.Va machdep.adjkerntz
121kernel variable and updates the wall real-time clock to the new local time.
122If
123.Ql adjkerntz -a
124was started at a nonexistent time
125.Pq during a timezone change ,
126it exits with a warning diagnostic unless the
127.Fl s
128option was used, in which case
129.Nm
130sleeps 30 minutes and tries again.
131.Pp
132This form should be invoked from root's
133.Xr crontab 5
134every half hour between midnight and 5am,
135when most modern time zone changes occur.
136Warning: do not use the
137.Fl s
138option in a
139.Xr crontab 5
140command line, or multiple
141.Ql adjkerntz -a
142instances could conflict with each other.
143.El
144.Pp
145The
146.Nm
147utility clears the kernel timezone structure and makes the kernel clock run
148in the UTC time zone.
149Super-user privileges are required for all operations.
150.Sh ENVIRONMENT
151.Bl -tag -width /etc/wall_cmos_clock
152.It Ev TZ
153Time zone change rule, see
154.Xr tzset 3 ;
155not needed when
156.Xr tzsetup 8
157or
158.Xr zic 8
159is used.
160.El
161.Sh FILES
162.Bl -tag -width /etc/wall_cmos_clock -compact
163.It Pa /etc/localtime
164Current zoneinfo file, see
165.Xr tzsetup 8
166and
167.Xr zic 8 .
168.It Pa /etc/wall_cmos_clock
169Empty file.
170Its presence indicates that the machine's real-time clock is set to local
171time, while its absence indicates a UTC real-time clock.
172.El
173.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
174No diagnostics.
175If an error occurs,
176.Nm
177logs an error message via
178.Xr syslog 3
179and exits with a nonzero return code.
180.Sh SEE ALSO
181.Xr tzset 3 ,
182.Xr crontab 5 ,
183.Xr mount_msdosfs 8 ,
184.Xr ntpd 8 ,
185.Xr rc 8 ,
186.Xr sysctl 8 ,
187.Xr tzsetup 8 ,
188.Xr zic 8
189.Sh HISTORY
190The
191.Nm
192utility appeared in
193.Fx 1.0 .
194.Sh AUTHORS
195.An Andrey A. Chernov Aq Mt ache@astral.msk.su
196