FreeBSD manual
download PDF document: adjkerntz.8.pdf
ADJKERNTZ(8) FreeBSD System Manager's Manual ADJKERNTZ(8)
NAME
adjkerntz - adjust the local time CMOS clock to reflect time zone changes
and keep the current timezone offset for the kernel
SYNOPSIS
adjkerntz -i
adjkerntz -a [-s]
DESCRIPTION
The adjkerntz utility maintains the proper relationship between the
kernel clock, which is always set to UTC and the CMOS clock, which may be
set to local time. The adjkerntz utility also informs the kernel about
machine timezone shifts in order to maintain proper timestamps for local
time file systems such as the MS-DOS file system. The main purpose of
maintaining these timestamps properly is to keep the timestamps of a
FreeBSD MS-DOS file system and an MS-DOS operating system synchronized
when they are installed on the same system rather than fixing broken MS-
DOS file timestamps. If the file /etc/wall_cmos_clock exists, it means
that the CMOS clock keeps local time (MS-DOS and MS-Windows compatible
mode). If that file does not exist, it means that the CMOS clock keeps
UTC time. The adjkerntz utility passes this state to the
machdep.wall_cmos_clock kernel variable.
Adjustments may be needed at system startup and shutdown, and whenever a
time zone change occurs. To handle these different situations, adjkerntz
is invoked in two ways:
-i This form handles system startups and shutdowns. The adjkerntz
utility is invoked with this option from /etc/rc on entry to multi-
user mode, before any other daemons have been started. The
adjkerntz utility puts itself into the background. Then, for a
local time CMOS clock, adjkerntz reads the local time from it and
sets the kernel clock to the corresponding UTC time. The adjkerntz
utility also stores the local time zone offset in the
machdep.adjkerntz kernel variable, for use by subsequent
invocations of 'adjkerntz -a' and by local time file systems.
For a local time CMOS clock 'adjkerntz -i' pauses and remains
inactive as a background daemon until it receives a SIGTERM. The
SIGTERM will normally be sent by init(8) when the system leaves
multi-user mode (usually, because the system is being shut down).
After receiving the SIGTERM, adjkerntz reads the UTC kernel clock
and updates the CMOS clock, if necessary, to ensure that it
reflects the current local time zone. Then adjkerntz exits.
-a [-s]
This form is used to update the local time CMOS clock and kernel
machdep.adjkerntz variable when time zone changes occur, e.g., when
entering or leaving daylight savings time. The adjkerntz utility
uses the kernel clock's UTC time, the previously stored time zone
offset, and the changed time zone rule to calculate a new time zone
offset. It stores the new offset into the machdep.adjkerntz kernel
variable and updates the wall CMOS clock to the new local time. If
'adjkerntz -a' was started at a nonexistent time (during a timezone
change), it exits with a warning diagnostic unless the -s option
was used, in which case adjkerntz sleeps 30 minutes and tries
again.
kernel clock run in the UTC time zone. Super-user privileges are
required for all operations.
ENVIRONMENT
TZ Time zone change rule, see tzset(3); not needed when
tzsetup(8) or zic(8) is used.
FILES
/etc/localtime Current zoneinfo file, see tzsetup(8) and zic(8).
/etc/wall_cmos_clock Empty file. Its presence indicates that the
machine's CMOS clock is set to local time, while
its absence indicates a UTC CMOS clock.
DIAGNOSTICS
No diagnostics. If an error occurs, adjkerntz logs an error message via
syslog(3) and exits with a nonzero return code.
SEE ALSO
tzset(3), crontab(5), mount_msdosfs(8), rc(8), sysctl(8), tzsetup(8),
zic(8)
HISTORY
The adjkerntz utility appeared in FreeBSD 1.0.
AUTHORS
Andrey A. Chernov <ache@astral.msk.su>
FreeBSD 14.2-RELEASE March 8, 2012 FreeBSD 14.2-RELEASE