				NETDATE 
				=======

Netdate - set date and time as specified by ARPA Internet RFC 868

Netdate takes a list of names of Internet hosts as arguments, selects the
one which supplies the best time, and sets the system time accordingly. The
invoker must be the super-user for the time to be set.

The ``best'' time is chosen by polling the named hosts once each to find
their times and taking their differences from the local host's time. These
differences are used to find the largest group of hosts whose times agree
with each other within a certain limit. The first host in the largest group
is picked as the best host. (The assumption is that the hosts which are
usually most accurate will be named first.) That host is polled again and
the local host's time is set to the result. The chosen host's time is
checked on this second poll to insure that its difference from the local
host's time has not varied more than the limit from its difference at the
first poll. 

The original sources for netdate were snarfed from the Simtel-20 archive in
the directory PD?:<UNIX-C.NETWORKS>. They contained no mention of who the
author might be. This version has been changed a little - mainly code
cleanups, and one minor bug-fix.  

The code is not entirely bug-free - running it from within X can cause
problems - the clock stops, and sometimes the screen blanks out. God knows
why...

If you find any (repeatable) bugs besides the one above, then let me know. I
might fix them if I'm able, but considering my knowledge of Unix socket
programming, this is unlikely :-) 

For more info, see the man page. YES! I mean it: there's a man page
included!

Standard disclaimers apply, as usual - Please see netdate.c.

Nick Hilliard Jan. 1993
------------------------
nick@curia.ucc.ie
n.hilliard@bureau.ucc.ie
armt6003@iruccvax.bitnet
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