ntp_gettime(3)             Library Functions Manual             ntp_gettime(3)

NAME
       ntp_gettime, ntp_gettimex  - get time parameters (NTP daemon interface)

LIBRARY
       Standard C library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS
       #include <sys/timex.h>

       int ntp_gettime(struct ntptimeval *ntv);
       int ntp_gettimex(struct ntptimeval *ntv);

DESCRIPTION
       Both of these APIs return information to the caller via the ntv
       argument, a structure of the following type:

           struct ntptimeval {
               struct timeval time;    /* Current time */
               long maxerror;          /* Maximum error */
               long esterror;          /* Estimated error */
               long tai;               /* TAI offset */

               /* Further padding bytes allowing for future expansion */
           };

       The fields of this structure are as follows:

       time   The current time, expressed as a timeval structure:

                  struct timeval {
                      time_t      tv_sec;   /* Seconds since the Epoch */
                      suseconds_t tv_usec;  /* Microseconds */
                  };

       maxerror
              Maximum error, in microseconds.  This value can be initialized
              by ntp_adjtime(3), and is increased periodically (on Linux: each
              second), but is clamped to an upper limit (the kernel constant
              NTP_PHASE_MAX, with a value of 16,000).

       esterror
              Estimated error, in microseconds.  This value can be set via
              ntp_adjtime(3) to contain an estimate of the difference between
              the system clock and the true time.  This value is not used
              inside the kernel.

       tai    TAI (Atomic International Time) offset.

       ntp_gettime() returns an ntptimeval structure in which the time,
       maxerror, and esterror fields are filled in.

       ntp_gettimex() performs the same task as ntp_gettime(), but also
       returns information in the tai field.

RETURN VALUE
       The return values for ntp_gettime() and ntp_gettimex() are as for
       adjtimex(2).  Given a correct pointer argument, these functions always
       succeed.

ATTRIBUTES
       For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see
       attributes(7).

       +--------------------------------------------+---------------+---------+
       |Interface                                   | Attribute     | Value   |
       +--------------------------------------------+---------------+---------+
       |ntp_gettime (), ntp_gettimex ()             | Thread safety | MT-Safe |
       +--------------------------------------------+---------------+---------+
STANDARDS
       ntp_gettime()
              NTP Kernel Application Program Interface.

       ntp_gettimex()
              GNU.

HISTORY
       ntp_gettime()
              glibc 2.1.

       ntp_gettimex()
              glibc 2.12.

SEE ALSO
       adjtimex(2), ntp_adjtime(3), time(7)

       NTP "Kernel Application Program Interface"
       <http://www.slac.stanford.edu/comp/unix/package/rtems/src/ssrlApps/
       ntpNanoclock/api.htm>

Linux man-pages 6.7               2023-10-31                    ntp_gettime(3)