Re: PDT timezone but UTC time

On Sun, Jun 28, 2026 at 10:29:11AM -0700, Steve Rikli wrote:
> On Sun, Jun 28, 2026 at 08:51:30AM -0700, bob prohaska wrote:
> > Lately hosts reporting
> > # uname -apKU
> > FreeBSD ns2.zefox.net 14.4-RELEASE-p6 FreeBSD 14.4-RELEASE-p6 GENERIC arm64 aarch64 1404000 1404000
> > 
> > have been reporting
> > # date
> > Sun Jun 28 15:23:29 PDT 2026
> > 
> > where the reported timezone is correct but the reported time looks like UTC
> > 
> > /etc/rc.conf contains
> > ntpd_enable="YES"
> > 
> > but it looks like ntpd_flags is empty. Is setting
> > ntpd_flags="-g"
> > the needed fix?
> 
> I typically set
> 
> $ grep ntpd_ /etc/rc.conf
> ntpd_enable="YES"
> ntpd_sync_on_start="YES"
> 
> ...which ends up being equivalent to setting "-g" in ntpd_flags.
> 
> $ ps axww | grep ntpd
>   846  -  Ss       1:30.31 /usr/sbin/ntpd -p /var/db/ntp/ntpd.pid -c /etc/ntp.conf -f /var/db/ntp/ntpd.drift -g
> 
> I simply figured since someone went to the effort to add an rc variable,
> I'd make use of it.  :-)
> 
> Plus this leaves ntpd_flags for other possibly more complex setups,
> whereas allowing large adjustments during startup seems like something
> more commonly used.
> 
> However, I'm not sure how this is involved with your comments about UTC.
> Are you saying the actual system time is off? E.g. it wasn't really
> 3:23pm PDT when you typed the 'date' command above?
> 
The numerical value of the time was correct if interpreted as UTC,
but fast by seven if interpreted at PDT. 

> Maybe compare 'date' and 'date -u' output.
>
Running ntpd -g as root seems to have cleared up the problem.
Could it simply be a bug in which the "date" command reports
the wrong timezone? 

This sort of behavior has been recurrent after system updates,
using freebsd-update. It's a binary only installation.

Thanks for writing,

bob prohaska
 
> Cheers,
> sr.
>