Bug 670968

Summary:	feature request: setting hardware clock in the installer
Product:	[Fedora] Fedora	Reporter:	Andrew McNabb <amcnabb>
Component:	anaconda	Assignee:	Anaconda Maintenance Team <anaconda-maint-list>
Status:	CLOSED WONTFIX	QA Contact:	Fedora Extras Quality Assurance <extras-qa>
Severity:	low	Docs Contact:
Priority:	low
Version:	14	CC:	anaconda-maint-list, jonathan, vanmeeuwen+fedora
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Hardware:	Unspecified
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Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	Bug Fix
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Last Closed:	2011-01-19 20:04:48 UTC	Type:	---
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oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description Andrew McNabb 2011-01-19 19:35:11 UTC

When a new motherboard arrives, its hardware clock may be set to strange values in the distant past or future.  At the initial install and boot, the system time and timestamps on the filesystem may be set in the future, which seems to cause problems for a variety of system tools.  We can work around this by allowing a new machine to run for a short while and then reinstalling it, but it would be more convenient if the installer had the ability (possibly as a kickstart option) to set the hardware clock from ntp during the install.  I don't think this is a high-priority problem, but the problems caused by timestamps in the future can be strange and hard to track down.

Comment 1 Chris Lumens 2011-01-19 20:04:48 UTC

/sbin/hwclock exists in the installation media, so you could use that in a %pre script to set the time that way.

In general, though, I really don't want to go in the direction of adding yet more time-related options to anaconda.  It's already confusing enough as it is.  However if you want to get this included in the UI work we're doing, check out https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Anaconda/UX_Redesign/Anaconda_Location and make proposals there.

Comment 2 Andrew McNabb 2011-01-19 21:45:58 UTC

Unfortunately, ntpdate is not available in the installation media, so I don't think this solution is currently possible.  Would it be much trouble to include ntpdate in the installation media to make this easier to do?

Comment 3 Andrew McNabb 2011-01-19 21:50:15 UTC

Also, if the user specifies (in the current UI) to synchronize the date/time via the network, then it would be reasonable (or even ideal) to do so immediately at the beginning of the installation.  No such option seems to be available for kickstart scripts, however.

Comment 4 Chris Lumens 2011-01-19 21:52:16 UTC

ntpdate should be included as of anaconda-15.8-1.