Re: rdate gets pledge error with -c option

On Tue, Apr 21, 2026 at 02:02:28PM -0400, Steve Shockley wrote:
> > Synopsis:	rdate gets pledge error with -c option
> > Category:	user
> > Environment:
> 	System      : OpenBSD 7.9
> 	Details     : OpenBSD 7.9 (GENERIC.MP) #443: Sat Apr 18 21:25:46 MDT 2026
> 			 [email protected]:/usr/src/sys/arch/amd64/compile/GENERIC.MP
> 
> 	Architecture: OpenBSD.amd64
> 	Machine     : amd64
> > Description:
> 	Due to muscle memory I usually run 'rdate -ncv <timeserver>' to set the
> time on a new machine, even though apparently I no longer need -n or -c.
> Anyway, running 'rdate -c <timeserver>' produces an error 'rdate[17868]:
> pledge "rpath", syscall 5'.  We should probably either fix or remove -c.

This is because ntp.c attempts to open /usr/share/zoneinfo/right/UTC.
The following fixes the pledge issues. Although I don't know where
/usr/share/zoneinfo/right/ is supposed to come from and strangely I
don't see an error from failing to open this.


diff --git usr.sbin/rdate/ntp.c usr.sbin/rdate/ntp.c
index 4aed956d62f..f0d11765f79 100644
--- usr.sbin/rdate/ntp.c
+++ usr.sbin/rdate/ntp.c
@@ -151,13 +151,13 @@ ntp_client(const char *hostname, int family, struct timeval *new,
 		/*NOTREACHED*/
 	}
 
-	if (pledge("stdio inet", NULL) == -1)
-		err(1, "pledge");
-
 	corrleaps = leapflag;
 	if (corrleaps)
 		ntpleaps_init();
 
+	if (pledge("stdio inet", NULL) == -1)
+		err(1, "pledge");
+
 	s = -1;
 	for (res = res0; res; res = res->ai_next) {
 		s = socket(res->ai_family, res->ai_socktype, res->ai_protocol);
diff --git usr.sbin/rdate/ntpleaps.c usr.sbin/rdate/ntpleaps.c
index f38d3cf2456..307ef8814c8 100644
--- usr.sbin/rdate/ntpleaps.c
+++ usr.sbin/rdate/ntpleaps.c
@@ -86,9 +86,6 @@ ntpleaps_sub(u_int64_t *t)
 	u_int64_t u;
 	int r = 1;
 
-	if (ntpleaps_init() == -1)
-		return (-1);
-
 	u = *t;
 
 	while (i < leapsecs_num) {
diff --git usr.sbin/rdate/rdate.c usr.sbin/rdate/rdate.c
index e6c77711b4d..1d8f62f20b8 100644
--- usr.sbin/rdate/rdate.c
+++ usr.sbin/rdate/rdate.c
@@ -132,7 +132,12 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 		err(1, "fork");
 		break;
 	case 0:
-		if (pledge("stdio inet dns", NULL) == -1)
+		if (corrleaps) {
+			if (unveil("/usr/share/zoneinfo", "r") == -1)
+				err(1, "unveil");
+			if (pledge("stdio rpath inet dns", NULL) == -1)
+				err(1, "pledge");
+		} else if (pledge("stdio inet dns", NULL) == -1)
 			err(1, "pledge");
 
 		close(p[0]);	/* read side of pipe */