xref: /freebsd/sbin/adjkerntz/adjkerntz.8 (revision eda14cbc264d6969b02f2b1994cef11148e914f1)
1.\" Copyright (C) 1993-1998 by Andrey A. Chernov, Moscow, Russia.
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25.\" $FreeBSD$
26.\"
27.Dd March 8, 2012
28.Dt ADJKERNTZ 8
29.Os
30.Sh NAME
31.Nm adjkerntz
32.Nd adjust the local time CMOS clock to reflect time zone changes and keep the current timezone offset for the kernel
33.Sh SYNOPSIS
34.Nm
35.Fl i
36.Nm
37.Fl a Op Fl s
38.Sh DESCRIPTION
39The
40.Nm
41utility maintains the proper relationship between the kernel clock, which
42is always set to UTC and the CMOS clock, which may be set to local time.
43The
44.Nm
45utility also informs the kernel about machine timezone shifts in order to
46maintain proper timestamps for local time file systems such as the MS-DOS
47file system.
48The main purpose of maintaining these timestamps properly is to keep the
49timestamps of a
50.Fx
51MS-DOS file system and an MS-DOS operating system synchronized when they are
52installed on the same system rather than fixing broken MS-DOS file
53timestamps.
54If the file
55.Pa /etc/wall_cmos_clock
56exists, it means that the CMOS clock keeps local time (MS-DOS and MS-Windows
57compatible mode).
58If that file does not exist, it means that the CMOS clock keeps UTC time.
59The
60.Nm
61utility passes this state to the
62.Pa machdep.wall_cmos_clock
63kernel variable.
64.Pp
65Adjustments may be needed at system startup and shutdown, and
66whenever a time zone change occurs.
67To handle these different situations,
68.Nm
69is invoked in two ways:
70.Bl -tag -width 4n
71.It Fl i
72This form handles system startups and shutdowns.
73The
74.Nm
75utility is invoked with this option from
76.Pa /etc/rc
77on entry to multi-user mode, before any other daemons have been started.
78The
79.Nm
80utility puts itself into the background.
81Then, for a local time CMOS clock,
82.Nm
83reads the local time from it
84and sets the kernel clock to the corresponding UTC time.
85The
86.Nm
87utility also stores the local time zone offset in the
88.Pa machdep.adjkerntz
89kernel variable, for use by subsequent invocations of
90.Em "'adjkerntz -a'"
91and by local time file systems.
92.Pp
93For a local time CMOS clock
94.Em "'adjkerntz -i'"
95pauses and remains inactive as a background daemon until it
96receives a SIGTERM.
97The SIGTERM will normally be sent by
98.Xr init 8
99when the system leaves multi-user mode (usually, because the system
100is being shut down).
101After receiving the SIGTERM,
102.Nm
103reads the UTC kernel clock and updates the CMOS clock, if necessary,
104to ensure that it reflects the current local time zone.
105Then
106.Nm
107exits.
108.It Fl a Op Fl s
109This form is used to update the local time CMOS clock and kernel
110.Pa machdep.adjkerntz
111variable when time zone changes occur,
112e.g., when entering or leaving daylight savings time.
113The
114.Nm
115utility uses the kernel clock's UTC time,
116the previously stored
117time zone offset, and the changed time zone rule to
118calculate a new time zone offset.
119It stores the new offset into the
120.Pa machdep.adjkerntz
121kernel variable and updates the wall CMOS clock to the new local time.
122If
123.Em "'adjkerntz -a'"
124was started at a nonexistent time (during a timezone change), it exits
125with a warning diagnostic unless the
126.Fl s
127option was used, in which case
128.Nm
129sleeps 30 minutes and tries again.
130.Pp
131This form should be invoked from root's
132.Xr crontab 5
133every half hour between midnight and 5am, when most modern time
134zone changes occur.
135Warning: do not use the
136.Fl s
137option in a
138.Xr crontab 5
139command line, or multiple
140.Em "'adjkerntz -a'"
141instances could conflict with each other.
142.El
143.Pp
144The
145.Nm
146utility clears the kernel timezone structure and makes the kernel clock run
147in the UTC time zone.
148Super-user privileges are required for all operations.
149.Sh ENVIRONMENT
150.Bl -tag -width Fl
151.It Ev TZ
152Time zone change rule, see
153.Xr tzset 3 ;
154not needed when
155.Xr tzsetup 8
156or
157.Xr zic 8
158is used.
159.El
160.Sh FILES
161.Bl -tag -width /etc/wall_cmos_clock -compact
162.It Pa /etc/localtime
163Current zoneinfo file, see
164.Xr tzsetup 8
165and
166.Xr zic 8 .
167.It Pa /etc/wall_cmos_clock
168Empty file.
169Its presence indicates that the machine's CMOS clock is set to local
170time, while its absence indicates a UTC CMOS clock.
171.El
172.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
173No diagnostics.
174If an error occurs,
175.Nm
176logs an error message via
177.Xr syslog 3
178and exits with a nonzero return code.
179.Sh SEE ALSO
180.Xr tzset 3 ,
181.Xr crontab 5 ,
182.Xr mount_msdosfs 8 ,
183.Xr rc 8 ,
184.Xr sysctl 8 ,
185.Xr tzsetup 8 ,
186.Xr zic 8
187.Sh HISTORY
188The
189.Nm
190utility appeared in
191.Fx 1.0 .
192.Sh AUTHORS
193.An Andrey A. Chernov Aq Mt ache@astral.msk.su
194