[ntp:questions] Is the use of the leap seconds mechanism mandatory?

Danny Mayer mayer at ntp.org
Thu Mar 5 18:44:25 UTC 2009


Steve Kostecke wrote:
> On 2009-02-26, Bartholome, Alain <alain.bartholome at eads.com> wrote:
> 
>> The primary reason why  I need NTP is the synchronization of the systems,
>> not the accuracy of time.
> 
> NTP is designed to synchronize computer clocks to a common time base.
> 
> The most commonly used timebase is UTC acquired over a network or via a
> radio ref-clock such as GPS. It's cheap. It's ubiquitous.
> 
> A nice side effect of using UTC as your timebase is that your clocks
> will be set to the correct time.
> 

Also remember that any outside source: GPS, ntp server on the network,
etc. will have already incorporated the leapsecond into the timestamps
that it hands out so you don't have a choice in that. Only if you are in
an isolated network with no external source of time does it not matter.

Danny

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