Provided by: systemd_249.11-0ubuntu3.17_amd64 

NAME
org.freedesktop.timedate1 - The D-Bus interface of systemd-timedated
INTRODUCTION
systemd-timedated.service(8) is a system service that can be used to control the system time and related
settings. This page describes the D-Bus interface.
THE D-BUS API
The service exposes the following interfaces on the bus:
node /org/freedesktop/timedate1 {
interface org.freedesktop.timedate1 {
methods:
SetTime(in x usec_utc,
in b relative,
in b interactive);
SetTimezone(in s timezone,
in b interactive);
SetLocalRTC(in b local_rtc,
in b fix_system,
in b interactive);
SetNTP(in b use_ntp,
in b interactive);
ListTimezones(out as timezones);
properties:
readonly s Timezone = '...';
readonly b LocalRTC = ...;
@org.freedesktop.DBus.Property.EmitsChangedSignal("false")
readonly b CanNTP = ...;
readonly b NTP = ...;
@org.freedesktop.DBus.Property.EmitsChangedSignal("false")
readonly b NTPSynchronized = ...;
@org.freedesktop.DBus.Property.EmitsChangedSignal("false")
readonly t TimeUSec = ...;
@org.freedesktop.DBus.Property.EmitsChangedSignal("false")
readonly t RTCTimeUSec = ...;
};
interface org.freedesktop.DBus.Peer { ... };
interface org.freedesktop.DBus.Introspectable { ... };
interface org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties { ... };
};
Methods
Use SetTime() to change the system clock. Pass a value of microseconds since the UNIX epoch (1 Jan 1970
UTC). If relative is true, the passed usec value will be added to the current system time. If it is
false, the current system time will be set to the passed usec value. If the system time is set with this
method, the RTC will be updated as well.
Use SetTimezone() to set the system timezone. Pass a value like "Europe/Berlin" to set the timezone.
Valid timezones are listed in /usr/share/zoneinfo/zone.tab. If the RTC is configured to be maintained in
local time, it will be updated accordingly.
Use SetLocalRTC() to control whether the RTC is in local time or UTC. It is strongly recommended to
maintain the RTC in UTC. However, some OSes (Windows) maintain the RTC in local time, which might make it
necessary to enable this feature. Note that this might create various problems as daylight changes could
be missed. If fix_system is "true", the time from the RTC is read again and the system clock is adjusted
according to the new setting. If fix_system is "false", the system time is written to the RTC taking the
new setting into account. Use fix_system=true in installers and livecds where the RTC is probably more
reliable than the system time. Use fix_system=false in configuration UIs that are run during normal
operation and where the system clock is probably more reliable than the RTC.
Use SetNTP() to control whether the system clock is synchronized with the network using
systemd-timesyncd. This will enable and start or disable and stop the chosen time synchronization
service.
ListTimezones() returns a list of time zones known on the local system as an array of names
("["Africa/Abidjan", "Africa/Accra", ..., "UTC"]").
Properties
Timezone shows the currently configured time zone. LocalRTC shows whether the RTC is configured to use
UTC (false), or the local time zone (true). CanNTP shows whether a service to perform time
synchronization over the network is available, and NTP shows whether such a service is enabled.
NTPSynchronized shows whether the kernel reports the time as synchronized (c.f. adjtimex(3)). TimeUSec
and RTCTimeUSec show the current time on the system and in the RTC. The purpose of those three properties
is to allow remote clients to access this information over D-Bus. Local clients can access the
information directly.
Whenever the Timezone and LocalRTC settings are changed via the daemon, PropertyChanged signals are sent
out to which clients can subscribe.
Note that this service will not inform you about system time changes. Use timerfd(3) with CLOCK_REALTIME
and TFD_TIMER_CANCEL_ON_SET for that.
Security
The interactive boolean parameters can be used to control whether polkit[1] should interactively ask the
user for authentication credentials if required.
The polkit action for SetTimezone() is org.freedesktop.timedate1.set-timezone. For SetLocalRTC() it is
org.freedesktop.timedate1.set-local-rtc, for SetTime() it is org.freedesktop.timedate1.set-time and for
SetNTP() it is org.freedesktop.timedate1.set-ntp. ListTimezones() does not require any privileges.
EXAMPLES
Example 1. Introspect org.freedesktop.timedate1 on the bus
$ gdbus introspect --system \
--dest org.freedesktop.timedate1 \
--object-path /org/freedesktop/timedate1
VERSIONING
These D-Bus interfaces follow the usual interface versioning guidelines[2].
SEE ALSO
More information on how the system clock and RTC interact[3]
NOTES
1. polkit
https://www.freedesktop.org/software/polkit/docs/latest/
2. the usual interface versioning guidelines
http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/versioning-dbus.html
3. More information on how the system clock and RTC interact
https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/systemd-devel/2011-May/002526.html
systemd 249 ORG.FREEDESKTOP.TIMEDATE1(5)