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NAME

       adjtimex, clock_adjtime, ntp_adjtime - tune kernel clock

SYNOPSIS

       #include <sys/timex.h>

       int adjtimex(struct timex *buf);

       int clock_adjtime(clockid_t clk_id, struct timex *buf);

       int ntp_adjtime(struct timex *buf);

DESCRIPTION

       Linux  uses  David  L.  Mills' clock adjustment algorithm (see RFC 5905).  The system call
       adjtimex() reads and optionally sets adjustment parameters for this algorithm.  It takes a
       pointer  to a timex structure, updates kernel parameters from (selected) field values, and
       returns the same structure updated with the current  kernel  values.   This  structure  is
       declared as follows:

           struct timex {
               int  modes;      /* Mode selector */
               long offset;     /* Time offset; nanoseconds, if STA_NANO
                                   status flag is set, otherwise
                                   microseconds */
               long freq;       /* Frequency offset; see NOTES for units */
               long maxerror;   /* Maximum error (microseconds) */
               long esterror;   /* Estimated error (microseconds) */
               int  status;     /* Clock command/status */
               long constant;   /* PLL (phase-locked loop) time constant */
               long precision;  /* Clock precision
                                   (microseconds, read-only) */
               long tolerance;  /* Clock frequency tolerance (read-only);
                                   see NOTES for units */
               struct timeval time;
                                /* Current time (read-only, except for
                                   ADJ_SETOFFSET); upon return, time.tv_usec
                                   contains nanoseconds, if STA_NANO status
                                   flag is set, otherwise microseconds */
               long tick;       /* Microseconds between clock ticks */
               long ppsfreq;    /* PPS (pulse per second) frequency
                                   (read-only); see NOTES for units */
               long jitter;     /* PPS jitter (read-only); nanoseconds, if
                                   STA_NANO status flag is set, otherwise
                                   microseconds */
               int  shift;      /* PPS interval duration
                                   (seconds, read-only) */
               long stabil;     /* PPS stability (read-only);
                                   see NOTES for units */
               long jitcnt;     /* PPS count of jitter limit exceeded
                                   events (read-only) */
               long calcnt;     /* PPS count of calibration intervals
                                   (read-only) */
               long errcnt;     /* PPS count of calibration errors
                                   (read-only) */
               long stbcnt;     /* PPS count of stability limit exceeded
                                   events (read-only) */
               int tai;         /* TAI offset, as set by previous ADJ_TAI
                                   operation (seconds, read-only,
                                   since Linux 2.6.26) */
               /* Further padding bytes to allow for future expansion */
           };

       The  modes field determines which parameters, if any, to set.  (As described later in this
       page, the constants used for ntp_adjtime() are equivalent but differently named.)  It is a
       bit mask containing a bitwise-or combination of zero or more of the following bits:

       ADJ_OFFSET
              Set time offset from buf.offset.  Since Linux 2.6.26, the supplied value is clamped
              to the range (-0.5s, +0.5s).  In older kernels,  an  EINVAL  error  occurs  if  the
              supplied value is out of range.

       ADJ_FREQUENCY
              Set  frequency  offset  from  buf.freq.   Since Linux 2.6.26, the supplied value is
              clamped to the range (-32768000, +32768000).  In older  kernels,  an  EINVAL  error
              occurs if the supplied value is out of range.

       ADJ_MAXERROR
              Set maximum time error from buf.maxerror.

       ADJ_ESTERROR
              Set estimated time error from buf.esterror.

       ADJ_STATUS
              Set  clock  status  bits  from buf.status.  A description of these bits is provided
              below.

       ADJ_TIMECONST
              Set PLL time constant from buf.constant.  If the STA_NANO status flag  (see  below)
              is clear, the kernel adds 4 to this value.

       ADJ_SETOFFSET (since Linux 2.6.39)
              Add  buf.time  to the current time.  If buf.status includes the ADJ_NANO flag, then
              buf.time.tv_usec is interpreted as a nanosecond value; otherwise it is  interpreted
              as microseconds.

              The  value of buf.time is the sum of its two fields, but the field buf.time.tv_usec
              must always be nonnegative.  The following example shows how to normalize a timeval
              with nanosecond resolution.

                  while (buf.time.tv_usec < 0) {
                      buf.time.tv_sec  -= 1;
                      buf.time.tv_usec += 1000000000;
                  }

       ADJ_MICRO (since Linux 2.6.26)
              Select microsecond resolution.

       ADJ_NANO (since Linux 2.6.26)
              Select  nanosecond  resolution.   Only  one  of  ADJ_MICRO  and  ADJ_NANO should be
              specified.

       ADJ_TAI (since Linux 2.6.26)
              Set TAI (Atomic International Time) offset from buf.constant.

              ADJ_TAI should not be used in conjunction with ADJ_TIMECONST, since the latter mode
              also employs the buf.constant field.

              For  a complete explanation of TAI and the difference between TAI and UTC, see BIPMhttp://www.bipm.org/en/bipm/tai/tai.htmlADJ_TICK
              Set tick value from buf.tick.

       Alternatively, modes can be specified as either of the following (multibit  mask)  values,
       in which case other bits should not be specified in modes:

       ADJ_OFFSET_SINGLESHOT
              Old-fashioned adjtime(3): (gradually) adjust time by value specified in buf.offset,
              which specifies an adjustment in microseconds.

       ADJ_OFFSET_SS_READ (functional since Linux 2.6.28)
              Return (in buf.offset) the remaining amount of time to be adjusted after an earlier
              ADJ_OFFSET_SINGLESHOT  operation.   This feature was added in Linux 2.6.24, but did
              not work correctly until Linux 2.6.28.

       Ordinary users are restricted to a value of either  0  or  ADJ_OFFSET_SS_READ  for  modes.
       Only the superuser may set any parameters.

       The  buf.status  field  is  a  bit  mask  that  is used to set and/or retrieve status bits
       associated with the NTP implementation.  Some bits in  the  mask  are  both  readable  and
       settable, while others are read-only.

       STA_PLL (read-write)
              Enable phase-locked loop (PLL) updates via ADJ_OFFSET.

       STA_PPSFREQ (read-write)
              Enable PPS (pulse-per-second) frequency discipline.

       STA_PPSTIME (read-write)
              Enable PPS time discipline.

       STA_FLL (read-write)
              Select frequency-locked loop (FLL) mode.

       STA_INS (read-write)
              Insert  a leap second after the last second of the UTC day, thus extending the last
              minute of the day by one second.  Leap-second insertion will  occur  each  day,  so
              long as this flag remains set.

       STA_DEL (read-write)
              Delete  a leap second at the last second of the UTC day.  Leap second deletion will
              occur each day, so long as this flag remains set.

       STA_UNSYNC (read-write)
              Clock unsynchronized.

       STA_FREQHOLD (read-write)
              Hold frequency.  Normally  adjustments  made  via  ADJ_OFFSET  result  in  dampened
              frequency  adjustments  also  being  made.   So  a single call corrects the current
              offset, but as offsets in  the  same  direction  are  made  repeatedly,  the  small
              frequency adjustments will accumulate to fix the long-term skew.

              This  flag  prevents the small frequency adjustment from being made when correcting
              for an ADJ_OFFSET value.

       STA_PPSSIGNAL (read-only)
              A valid PPS (pulse-per-second) signal is present.

       STA_PPSJITTER (read-only)
              PPS signal jitter exceeded.

       STA_PPSWANDER (read-only)
              PPS signal wander exceeded.

       STA_PPSERROR (read-only)
              PPS signal calibration error.

       STA_CLOCKERR (read-only)
              Clock hardware fault.

       STA_NANO (read-only; since Linux 2.6.26)
              Resolution (0 = microsecond, 1 =  nanoseconds).   Set  via  ADJ_NANO,  cleared  via
              ADJ_MICRO.

       STA_MODE (since Linux 2.6.26)
              Mode (0 = Phase Locked Loop, 1 = Frequency Locked Loop).

       STA_CLK (read-only; since Linux 2.6.26)
              Clock source (0 = A, 1 = B); currently unused.

       Attempts to set read-only status bits are silently ignored.

   clock_adjtime ()
       The  clock_adjtime() system call (added in Linux 2.6.39) behaves like adjtimex() but takes
       an additional clk_id argument to specify the particular clock on which to act.

   ntp_adjtime ()
       The ntp_adjtime() library function (described in the NTP "Kernel Application Program API",
       KAPI) is a more portable interface for performing the same task as adjtimex().  Other than
       the following points, it is identical to adjtimex():

       *  The constants used in modes are prefixed with "MOD_" rather than "ADJ_", and  have  the
          same  suffixes  (thus, MOD_OFFSET, MOD_FREQUENCY, and so on), other than the exceptions
          noted in the following points.

       *  MOD_CLKA is the synonym for ADJ_OFFSET_SINGLESHOT.

       *  MOD_CLKB is the synonym for ADJ_TICK.

       *  The is no synonym for ADJ_OFFSET_SS_READ, which is not described in the KAPI.

RETURN VALUE

       On success, adjtimex() and ntp_adjtime() return the clock  state;  that  is,  one  of  the
       following values:

       TIME_OK     Clock synchronized, no leap second adjustment pending.

       TIME_INS    Indicates that a leap second will be added at the end of the UTC day.

       TIME_DEL    Indicates that a leap second will be deleted at the end of the UTC day.

       TIME_OOP    Insertion of a leap second is in progress.

       TIME_WAIT   A  leap-second  insertion  or deletion has been completed.  This value will be
                   returned until the next ADJ_STATUS operation clears the  STA_INS  and  STA_DEL
                   flags.

       TIME_ERROR  The  system  clock  is  not  synchronized to a reliable server.  This value is
                   returned when any of the following holds true:

                   *  Either STA_UNSYNC or STA_CLOCKERR is set.

                   *  STA_PPSSIGNAL is clear and either STA_PPSFREQ or STA_PPSTIME is set.

                   *  STA_PPSTIME and STA_PPSJITTER are both set.

                   *  STA_PPSFREQ is set and either STA_PPSWANDER or STA_PPSJITTER is set.

                   The symbolic name TIME_BAD is a synonym for TIME_ERROR, provided for  backward
                   compatibility.

       Note  that  starting with Linux 3.4, the call operates asynchronously and the return value
       usually will not reflect a state change caused by the call itself.

       On failure, these calls return -1 and set errno.

ERRORS

       EFAULT buf does not point to writable memory.

       EINVAL (kernels before Linux 2.6.26)
              An attempt was made to set buf.freq  to  a  value  outside  the  range  (-33554432,
              +33554432).

       EINVAL (kernels before Linux 2.6.26)
              An  attempt  was made to set buf.offset to a value outside the permitted range.  In
              kernels before Linux 2.0, the permitted range was (-131072, +131072).   From  Linux
              2.0 onwards, the permitted range was (-512000, +512000).

       EINVAL An attempt was made to set buf.status to a value other than those listed above.

       EINVAL The  clk_id given to clock_adjtime() is invalid for one of two reasons.  Either the
              System-V style hard-coded positive clock ID value is out of range, or  the  dynamic
              clk_id  does not refer to a valid instance of a clock object.  See clock_gettime(2)
              for a discussion of dynamic clocks.

       EINVAL An attempt was made to set buf.tick to a  value  outside  the  range  900000/HZ  to
              1100000/HZ, where HZ is the system timer interrupt frequency.

       ENODEV The hot-pluggable device (like USB for example) represented by a dynamic clk_id has
              disappeared after its character device was  opened.   See  clock_gettime(2)  for  a
              discussion of dynamic clocks.

       EOPNOTSUPP
              The given clk_id does not support adjustment.

       EPERM  buf.modes  is  neither  0  nor  ADJ_OFFSET_SS_READ,  and  the  caller does not have
              sufficient privilege.  Under Linux, the CAP_SYS_TIME capability is required.

ATTRIBUTES

       For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7).

       ┌──────────────┬───────────────┬─────────┐
       │InterfaceAttributeValue   │
       ├──────────────┼───────────────┼─────────┤
       │ntp_adjtime() │ Thread safety │ MT-Safe │
       └──────────────┴───────────────┴─────────┘

CONFORMING TO

       None of these interfaces is described in POSIX.1

       adjtimex() and clock_adjtime() are Linux-specific and  should  not  be  used  in  programs
       intended to be portable.

       The preferred API for the NTP daemon is ntp_adjtime().

NOTES

       In  struct  timex,  freq,  ppsfreq,  and  stabil are ppm (parts per million) with a 16-bit
       fractional part, which means that a value of 1 in one of those fields actually means 2^-16
       ppm,  and  2^16=65536  is  1  ppm.  This is the case for both input values (in the case of
       freq) and output values.

       The leap-second processing triggered by STA_INS and STA_DEL is done by the kernel in timer
       context.   Thus,  it will take one tick into the second for the leap second to be inserted
       or deleted.

SEE ALSO

       clock_gettime(2),   clock_settime(2),   settimeofday(2),    adjtime(3),    ntp_gettime(3),
       capabilities(7), time(7), adjtimex(8), hwclock(8)

       NTP "Kernel Application Program Interface" ⟨http://www.slac.stanford.edu/comp/unix/
       package/rtems/src/ssrlApps/ntpNanoclock/api.htm⟩

COLOPHON

       This page is part of release 5.10 of the Linux man-pages project.  A description of the
       project, information about reporting bugs, and the latest version of this page, can be
       found at https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.