[ntp:questions] Re: Make NTP timestamps leap-second-neutral (like GPS time)

Michel Hack hack at watson.ibm.com
Wed Jan 14 13:50:09 UTC 2004


"David L. Mills" <mills at udel.edu> wrote in message news:<4004AC3A.6248ECD6 at udel.edu>...
> ... I can report that
> the latest leap represented by the last second of 1998 using NTPv4 with
> the WWV reference driver to deliver the leap warning bit and the kernel
> leap state machine did in fact correctly insert the second as intended.

I have no doubt about the "leap state machine" and the actual
recognition
of the Leap Second Event.  My question was about the stability of
stratum-1
servers for a certain period *after* the event, if in fact all those
Unix
clocks independently "absorb" the leap second.  For 1994 you described
a
"pinball" effect with a "tradition dating back years".  Can I assume
that
nothing similar has happened since then, i.e. that the timestamps
received
from a reputable server (stratum 1 or 2) over a good stable link show
no discontinuity in logical value (in other words, NTP time stamps
without
the LSE-pending bit differ by exactly one second from the projected
value
of those with the LSE flag)?

If that's the case, my primary argument for a change of protocol goes
away.

Michel.



More information about the questions mailing list