NAME

     ffclock_getcounter, ffclock_getestimate, ffclock_setestimate — Retrieve feed-forward
     counter, get and set feed-forward clock estimates

LIBRARY

     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS

     #include <sys/timeffc.h>

     int
     ffclock_getcounter(ffcounter *ffcount);

     int
     ffclock_getestimate(struct ffclock_estimate *cest);

     int
     ffclock_setestimate(struct ffclock_estimate *cest);

DESCRIPTION

     The ffclock is an alternative method to synchronise the system clock.  The ffclock
     implements a feed-forward paradigm and decouples the timestamping and timekeeping kernel
     functions.  This ensures that past clock errors do not affect current timekeeping, an
     approach radically different from the feedback alternative implemented by the ntpd daemon
     when adjusting the system clock.  The feed-forward approach has demonstrated better
     performance and higher robustness than a feedback approach when synchronising over the
     network.

     In the feed-forward context, a timestamp is a cumulative value of the ticks of the
     timecounter, which can be converted into seconds by using the feed-forward clock estimates.

     The ffclock_getcounter() system call allows the calling process to retrieve the current
     value of the feed-forward counter maintained by the kernel.

     The ffclock_getestimate() and ffclock_setestimate() system calls allow the caller to get and
     set the kernel's feed-forward clock parameter estimates respectively.  The
     ffclock_setestimate() system call should be invoked by a single instance of a feed-forward
     synchronisation daemon.  The ffclock_getestimate() system call can be called by any process
     to retrieve the feed-forward clock estimates.

     The feed-forward approach does not require that the clock estimates be retrieved every time
     a timestamp is to be converted into seconds.  The number of system calls can therefore be
     greatly reduced if the calling process retrieves the clock estimates from the clock
     synchronisation daemon instead.  The ffclock_getestimate() must be used when the feed-
     forward synchronisation daemon is not running (see USAGE below).

     The clock parameter estimates structure pointed to by cest is defined in <sys/timeffc.h> as:

     struct ffclock_estimate {
             struct bintime update_time;    /* Time of last estimates update. */
             ffcounter      update_ffcount; /* Counter value at last update. */
             ffcounter      leapsec_next;   /* Counter value of next leap second. */
             uint64_t       period;         /* Estimate of counter period. */
             uint32_t       errb_abs;       /* Bound on absolute clock error [ns]. */
             uint32_t       errb_rate;      /* Bound on counter rate error [ps/s]. */
             uint32_t       status;         /* Clock status. */
             int16_t        leapsec_total;  /* All leap seconds seen so far. */
             int8_t         leapsec;        /* Next leap second (in {-1,0,1}). */
     };

     Only the super-user may set the feed-forward clock estimates.

RETURN VALUES

     Upon successful completion, the value 0 is returned; otherwise the value -1 is returned and
     the global variable errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS

     The following error codes may be set in errno:

     [EFAULT]           The ffcount or cest pointer referenced invalid memory.

     [EPERM]            A user other than the super-user attempted to set the feed-forward clock
                        parameter estimates.

USAGE

     The feed-forward paradigm enables the definition of specialised clock functions.

     In its simplest form, ffclock_getcounter() can be used to establish strict order between
     events or to measure small time intervals very accurately with a minimum performance cost.

     Different methods exist to access absolute time (or "wall-clock time") tracked by the
     ffclock. The simplest method uses the ffclock sysctl interface kern.ffclock to make the
     system clock return the ffclock time.  The clock_gettime(2) system call can then be used to
     retrieve the current time seen by the feed-forward clock.  Note that this setting affects
     the entire system and that a feed-forward synchronisation daemon should be running.

     A less automated method consists of retrieving the feed-forward counter timestamp from the
     kernel and using the feed-forward clock parameter estimates to convert the timestamp into
     seconds.  The feed-forward clock parameter estimates can be retrieved from the kernel or
     from the synchronisation daemon directly (preferred).  This method allows converting
     timestamps using different clock models as needed by the application, while collecting
     meaningful upper bounds on current clock error.

SEE ALSO

     date(1), adjtime(2), clock_gettime(2), ctime(3)

HISTORY

     Feed-forward clock support first appeared in FreeBSD 10.0.

AUTHORS

     The feed-forward clock support was written by Julien Ridoux <jridoux@unimelb.edu.au> in
     collaboration with Darryl Veitch <dveitch@unimelb.edu.au> at the University of Melbourne
     under sponsorship from the FreeBSD Foundation.