Paul W. Abrahams wrote:
I don't understand why the default is to not run ntpd.
First, many people probably don't have a need for a highly accurate clock. It often comes in very handy e.g. when you've got multiple database-servers with timestamps and such, but Joe Bloggs doesn't really have a need for it. Second, because it needs to be specifically configured for your environment, i.e. you need to tell it which time-server to use.
But that still leaves the following question. If ntpd relies only on the drift file to keep the system clock accurate, sooner or later the system clock will wander.
But ntpd does not only rely on the drift-file for keeping your clock accurate. Really, it's time to RTM. I know it's long and complex, but ...
Is there some way to get ntpd to consult its collection of timeservers periodically and/or update the drift value?
Yes, and it does so by default. /Per Jessen, Zürich -- http://www.spamchek.com/ - managed anti-spam and anti-virus solution.