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Update README
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llsth
166
README.rst
166
README.rst
@ -27,56 +27,20 @@ start from scratch.
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Ntimed is the result.
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What should you do with this
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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You can take this code, compile it, run it, and it will steer your
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computer's clock, but I am not going to encourage you to do that in
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production yet -- unless you know what you are doing and why you
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are doing it: This is only a preview release.
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Soon-ish, there will be full production-ready releases and
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packages for your favourite operating system, but we are not
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there yet.
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But if you are willing to read C-source code to figure out what the
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printouts mean or if you care about quality time-keeping or quality
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programming, I would love to hear your feedback, reviews, and ideas.
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(Poul-Henning Kamp)
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Where can I read more ?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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I maintain a blog-of-sorts about this project here:
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The authors repository is located at github:
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https://github.com/bsdphk/Ntimed
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http://phk.freebsd.dk/time
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He maintain a blog-of-sorts about this project here:
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http://phk.freebsd.dk/time
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There you will find information about theory, practice,
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and the thinking that tries to bridge the gap between them.
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Updates typically happen during weekends -- that is when I work on
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Ntimed.
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Who do I yell at and how ?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Me, Poul-Henning Kamp. Please send email to phk@Ntimed.org.
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What happens next ?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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The plan is to have the first production-ready release in Q1/2015.
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Hopefully OS releases will then adopt Ntimed - first as an alternative
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to, and later as replacement for NTPD in client applications.
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It is not my intent to start and manage an entirely new FOSS project
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around Ntimed. Harlan from The Network Time Foundation has agreed
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to adopt Ntimed and it will run in/with/parallel to the NTPD project.
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Or something. We still need to flesh out all those details.
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The AROS repository is located here:
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https://github.com/llsth/Ntimed
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How to compile
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@ -95,124 +59,12 @@ your C code.)
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How to test
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~~~~~~~~~~~
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Stop ntpd if it is running, and then::
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./ntimed-client -t /tmp/somefile some_ntp_server some_other_ntp_server
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ntimed-client -t RAM:somefile some_ntp_server some_other_ntp_server
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That should synchronize your clock to those servers.
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Because this is a preview release, the process will not "daemonize"
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into the background.
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The '-t /tmp/somefile' arguments tells it to write a full blow-by-blow
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The '-t RAM:somefile' arguments tells it to write a full blow-by-blow
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tracefile, for analysis and debugging.
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If something goes wrong, I'm going to ask you for a copy the tracefile.
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What happens when you run it ?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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After a few seconds, your clock will be stepped if necessary.
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(In the final version, this is where the process daemonizes into the
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background -- from which point you can trust your clock to be good.)
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In the next 30-60 seconds, the PLL will eliminate any residual phase
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error and from this point in time, your computer's clock should be
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good to a few milliseconds - depending on the quality of the servers.
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After about 5-10 minutes, the PLL will have integrated the
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frequency error of your computer's crystal, and the PLL will
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start to "stiffen" to minimize the amount of steering necessary
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to keep the clock aligned to the servers.
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If you are using distant or very distant servers, it will take longer
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time before the PLL stiffens.
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Packet traces and simulations
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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You can also run the program two other ways::
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./ntimed-client --poll-server some_ntp_server some_other_ntp_server
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This will *not* steer your clock, but it will query the servers as
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if it should have steered your clock. (Ntpd should *not* be running
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at the same time.) By default it terminates after 1800 seconds,
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but you can control that with "-d 3600" for one hour etc.
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If you save the output into a file (redirect stdout or use '-t filename'),
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you can use it as input for a simulation run::
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./ntimed-client --sim-client -s filename -t /tmp/_
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And then run::
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python plotgen.py
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Then you can finally get some nice pictures to look at by::
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gnuplot
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load '/tmp/_g'
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Tweaking parameters
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Parameters can be examined and tweaked with '-p' arguments::
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-p '?'
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Gives a list of available parameters, and you can get information about
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each parameter::
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-p parameter_name
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To set the parameter to a non-default value::
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-p parameter_name=new_value
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Not everything which should be a parameter is yet, and there are
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some unused dummy parameters there, just to make sure the macro-magic
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works.
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Thanks and acknowledegments
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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First and foremost a big thanks to Professor Dave L. Mills.
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Thanks for being the first time-nut on the InterNETs, as we called
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them back then.
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Thanks for being an all-round pleasant fellow to work with.
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Thanks for adopting my 'nanokernel' and 'refclock_oncore'.
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But in particular thanks for lending me the most cantankerous LORAN-C
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receiver the world have ever seen, at a time in my life where I
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badly needed that a distraction to keep me sane.
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A big thanks to the Linux Foundation for realizing that NTPD was
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in dire straits after Dave Mills retired.
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Thanks for giving me money and free hands to do what I thought was
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best -- even though I am a "BSD-guy".
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Thanks to Harlan Stenn for keeping the NTPD flame burning, however
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stormy the last decade has been.
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I trust The Network Time Foundation will take as good care of Ntimed
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in the future, as it has taken care of NTPD in the past.
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A special wave of the hat to John R. Vig for his famous Quartz
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Crystal Tutorial.
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And finally, a shout-out and thanks to time-nuts@ in general and
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Tom Van Baak in particular, for being jolly and interesting company
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for people who happen to care about nanoseconds, leap seconds,
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choke-ring antennas and the finer points of SC- vs. AT-cut quartz
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crystals.
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*phk*
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