inittodr(9)

NAME

inittodr - initialize system time

SYNOPSIS

#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/systm.h>
void
inittodr(time_t base);

DESCRIPTION

The inittodr() function determines the time and sets the

system clock.
It tries to pick the correct time using a set of heuristics

that examine
the system's battery backed clock and the time obtained from

the root
file system, as given in base. How the base value is ob

tained will vary
depending on the root file system type. The heuristics used

include:

+o If the battery-backed clock has a valid time, it is

used.

+o If the battery-backed clock does not have a valid time,

the time pro

vided in base will be used.

Once a system time has been determined, it is stored in the

time variable.

DIAGNOSTICS

The inittodr() function prints diagnostic messages if it has

trouble figuring out the system time. Conditions that can cause diag

nostic messages
to be printed include:

+o The battery-backed clock's time appears nonsensical.

SEE ALSO

resettodr(9), time(9)

BUGS

On many systems, inittodr() has to convert from a time ex

pressed in terms
of year, month, day, hours, minutes, and seconds to time,

expressed in
seconds. Many of the implementations could share code, but

do not.

Each system's heuristics for picking the correct time are

slightly different.

The FreeBSD implementation should do a better job of vali

dating the time
provided in base when the battery-backed clock is unusable.

Currently it
unconditionally sets the system clock to this value.

BSD March 22, 1997

BSD