Bug 1155556 - Error in example on man page makes it very confusing
Summary: Error in example on man page makes it very confusing
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED NOTABUG
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: adjtimex
Version: 21
Hardware: Unspecified
OS: Unspecified
unspecified
unspecified
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Miroslav Lichvar
QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2014-10-22 11:17 UTC by Quentin Armitage
Modified: 2014-10-29 11:49 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2014-10-29 11:49:37 UTC
Type: Bug
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)
Patch to correct man page (568 bytes, patch)
2014-10-22 11:17 UTC, Quentin Armitage
no flags Details | Diff

Description Quentin Armitage 2014-10-22 11:17:23 UTC
Created attachment 949347 [details]
Patch to correct man page

Description of problem:
Under Examples at the end of adjtimex.8 man page, it says "... set the tick to 9999, and then it would lose 0.64 seconds per day". It should be "... it would lose 8.64 seconds per day". This is even more confusing since 0.64 is the residual error, which needs to be corrected by using --frequency.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
adjtimex-1.29

How reproducible:
Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. man 8 adjtimex
2.
3.

Actual results:
"... it would lose 0.64 seconds per day".

Expected results:
"... it would lose 8.64 seconds per day".

Additional info:
Patch attached

Comment 1 Miroslav Lichvar 2014-10-22 11:31:21 UTC
Thanks for the report. I've asked the upstream maintainer to include the patch.

Comment 2 Miroslav Lichvar 2014-10-22 11:41:15 UTC
Looking at this again, I think the text in the man page is actually correct.

The uncorrected clock gains 8 seconds per day, so when the tick is set to 9999, it will lose 0.64 seconds per days (8 - 8.64), which is then corrected by setting the frequency. Do you agree?

Comment 3 Quentin Armitage 2014-10-27 08:22:38 UTC
On reading it again in the light of your comment 2, I agree with you that the man page is correct. I think I was interpreting it as after the tick was set to 9999, it would lose 0.64 seconds relative to the speed it had previously been running.

I wonder if it would be clearer to say: If your system clock gained 8 seconds in 24 hours, you could set the tick to 9999, and then it would lose 8.64 seconds per day relative to its previous speed, or 0.64 seconds a day relative to actual time (that is, 1 tick unit = 8.64 seconds per day).

With apologies for the incorrect report.

Comment 4 Miroslav Lichvar 2014-10-29 11:49:37 UTC
Ok, thanks. I'm closing this bug.


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