[solved] time not syncing

[severe ember]

@kind moat let's talk in a thread

[kind moat]

sure, thanks

[severe ember]

could you try chronyc sources?

[kind moat]

so i moved the time manually 1 minute forward and then set auto again and obvs its not synced as timedate is saying

i did yesterday

chronyc sources
506 Cannot talk to daemon

i get that for anything with chronyc

[severe ember]

as root?

[kind moat]

nope

[severe ember]

'nope' as in it's still not producing output? or 'nope' as in you didn't try running chronyc sources as root

[kind moat]

i didnt use root

you mean with run0?

[severe ember]

specifically, run0 sh -c "chronyc sources"

because run0 is funny like that sometimes :)

[kind moat]

🦸 bash-5.2# chronyc sources
MS Name/IP address Stratum Poll Reach LastRx Last sample

^? time-c-b.nist.gov 1 10 377 687 +457ms[ +457ms] +/- 81ms

i entered run0 directly

[severe ember]

hm

could you diff /etc/chrony.conf /usr/etc/chrony.conf and systemctl status systemd-timesyncd.service?

[kind moat]

diff /etc/chrony.conf /usr/etc/chrony.conf
1,4c1
< # These servers were defined in the installation:
< server time-c-b.nist.gov iburst
<
< # Copyright © 2014-2024 GrapheneOS

Copyright © 2014-2025 GrapheneOS

24,25c21,26
< # https://github.com/GrapheneOS/infrastructure/blob/main/chrony.conf
<

server time.cloudflare.com iburst nts
server ntppool1.time.nl iburst nts
server nts.netnod.se iburst nts
server ptbtime1.ptb.de iburst nts
server time.dfm.dk iburst nts
server time.cifelli.xyz iburst nts

[severe ember]

ahhhhh

ok problem solved

[kind moat]

[1]🦸 bash-5.2# systemctl status systemd-timesyncd.service
○ systemd-timesyncd.service - Network Time Synchronization
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-timesyncd.service; disabled; preset: disabled)
Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/system/service.d
└─10-timeout-abort.conf
Active: inactive (dead)
Docs: man:systemd-timesyncd.service(8)

[severe ember]

run0
cp /usr/etc/chrony.conf /etc/chrony.conf
chmod 0644 /etc/chrony.conf
systemctl restart chronyd.service

that should do it?

and then run0 chronyc sources again please?

[kind moat]

MS Name/IP address Stratum Poll Reach LastRx Last sample

^- time.cloudflare.com 3 6 7 0 +1333us[+1333us] +/- 22ms
^* ntppool1.time.nl 1 6 177 2 -275us[ -580us] +/- 20ms
^? svl1-ts.nts.netnod.se 1 6 3 2 -970us[ -970us] +/- 34ms
^+ ptbtime1.ptb.de 1 6 377 0 -71us[ -71us] +/- 20ms
^+ time.dfm.dk 1 6 377 2 -674us[ -790us] +/- 23ms
^- time.cifelli.xyz 2 6 377 2 +3290us[+3174us] +/- 74ms
🦸 bash-5.2#

[severe ember]

:))

[kind moat]

its fine now, right?

but why didnt it work

[severe ember]

somehow /etc/chrony.conf got deleted on your system

[kind moat]

System clock synchronized: yes

[kind moat]

oh wow

i didnt do anything drastic

[severe ember]

so the chrony timesync daemon (which replaces timesyncd on secureblue) broke

so we just restored it from the defaults in /usr/etc

[kind moat]

thank you so much

[severe ember]

yw :)

[solved] time not syncing

[ivory coyote]

I had the same problem, but just fixed it by your guide:

run0
cp /usr/etc/chrony.conf /etc/chrony.conf
chmod 0644 /etc/chrony.conf
systemctl restart chronyd.service

I previously had set up the fedora one during the installation process. It had my clock off by 6 hours. Maybe we can add some documentation for this?

[severe ember]

hmm

it shouldn't need documentation because it shouldn't be happening

you mean you set the time zone via Fedora? or

[ivory coyote]

I caused the problem. There was something during installation about setting up a date/time server, and I selected something like "configure ntp server", and applied one which appears there by default. It was a fedora server.

I didn't understand what I was doing, but I'm programmed from years of installation wizards that "the defaults are usually fine".

[severe ember]

i'm just surprised that this would delete /etc/chrony.conf and break time synchronisation

it sounds like the option is misleading in that case

was this before first login, like during the ISO setup?

because if so, that's on the low priority list kinda, so maybe we could do documentation

but a technical fix sounds more appropriate to me(?)

[ivory coyote]

Yes, it was in the anaconda installer. When setting time zone, there was an option to set up automatic date/time. If you select "configure NTP" it is pre-populated with a fedora server, and I selected OK.

This fedora server later appeared in my /etc/chrony.conf instead of the server list found in /usr/etc/chrony.conf.

I think a technical fix is preferable, but I'm unfamiliar with how to tweak the options presented in the anaconda installer.

[arctic vine]

Had to unplug cmos battery because enabled power password and secure boot which doesn't work for me. Anyhow time is all off can figure out how to fire ntp back up. Any thoughts please and thank you?

[severe ember]

it should already be running - what does systemctl status chronyd.service say, when run in a terminal?

[arctic vine]

Active running and enabled

[severe ember]

it's weird that your time would be messed up then. what about timedatectl status?

[arctic vine]

It's all looking good except that it's no synchronized but maybe I'm not understanding something. Time says 9:19 but im east coast usa.

[severe ember]

ah, right

i'm in utc, and it's 19:20 here rn lol

yours should be 14:20

[arctic vine]

Exactly

[severe ember]

chronyd should be responsible for synchronising this

[arctic vine]

Or utc minus 5.

Ok chronyd I'll look into it
Sorry I'm coming from arch based endeavoros and don't know how to use Fedora based stuff. Good documentation somewhere i should get familiar with? I'm an amateur overall.

[severe ember]

apologies for the slow responses, i'm just reading the documentation myself lol

in theory this problem shouldn't happen

you can get a root/admin terminal by doing run0, and then check the detailed status of chronyd by running chronyc tracking

that might provide some useful information

also, are you using gnome or kde or sway? there should be a menu like this, make sure "automatic date & time" is enabled

[arctic vine]

Sway

Don't know how to use sway either. Really liked i3 on Endeavouros.

You're good I'm not rushing anything. Love to see Linux security issues being solved.

[severe ember]

there are also usability issues to be solved too lol

[arctic vine]

💯

[severe ember]

like secureblue uses chronyd instead of systemd-timesyncd or whatever it's called, and for some reason things go wrong occasionally

[severe ember]

can you see anything from this?

[arctic vine]

It only went wrong for me because secure blue encouraged me to turn on secure boot. But with secure boot on the os violates the rules and wont boot. I also had a power password on so had to pull my batteries to get that pw to disappear LOL

[arctic vine]

Yes got me into a root shell and trying commands but hasn't found a fix yet

How do i get to settings gui in sway?

[severe ember]

is there one? 😅

i'm not fancy enough to use sway

[arctic vine]

Probably not 🤣

Me neither apparently

[severe ember]

i was just wondering whether chronyc tracking had any useful information

[severe ember]

some people find tiling window managers like i3 or sway really efficient to use, there's probably less attack surface for sway compared to full DEs too

but i still find them a bit intimidating and ugly

[arctic vine]

Efficiency gains are unreal. You gotta try.

[severe ember]

hmm, what about chronyc sources?

[arctic vine]

I like looking at a shell so maybe I'm dead inside

[severe ember]

GNOME is so smooth though

i'm more productive with it than anything else

especially with the touchpad gestures and stuff

once you're used to the GNOME workflow it's really nice

[arctic vine]

Ok i love this system even with the troubles. Fact that there's a script for steam is do great. I'll install gnome on family gaming puter for kids

[severe ember]

still probably doesn't beat sway, ideally with mountain dew and an rgb keyboard (/jk)

[arctic vine]

White monster sir

[severe ember]

earlier in this thread, the cause of the issue was that they'd somehow lost their ntp sources

so this should clarify

[arctic vine]

Sources just gives info on my ip

[severe ember]

you should see a list like this

if you don't, please could you run diff /etc/chrony.conf /usr/etc/chrony.conf?

and tell me whether there's any output?

if you see some output from that command, then you need to do this #1413468542455648266 message to fix it, and you had the same problem as akita did above

[arctic vine]

No output unfortunately

That's good lol oh

[severe ember]

that's a good thing because hopefully it's the source of the issue lol

but maybe there's a bug in secureblue that's causing /etc/chrony.conf to get wiped by something

and so multiple new users are having trouble with time sync

[severe ember]

is there any output from this command?

[arctic vine]

No output no

[severe ember]

oh wow

stupid question, but do you have a network connection lol

[arctic vine]

Yes but i can't use the trivalent for some reason. I figured it might be the time thing.

[arctic vine]

I may just reinstall since this is a brand new os. Back slowly away from this time issue caused by removing batteries.

[severe ember]

@barren monolith do you know chronyd? he's connected to the internet, /etc/chronyd.conf is ok, but no sources, no ntp sync

i think we had that feature before i started using secureblue

[arctic vine]

IMAGE : sericea-main-hardened:latest

[barren monolith]

what's the status and what has been checked?

[severe ember]

only the later half of the thread is this issue. chronyd running, chronyd.conf untouched, but no sources listed, no sync taking place

[arctic vine]

Issue resolved sorry guys thank you

Lesson: Don't pull batteries

[barren monolith]

what was it?

no cmos battery?

[severe ember]

maybe reinstalled the wrong way round?

[arctic vine]

Unplugged cmos to remove the power on password. It was plugged back in correctly.

I think at my user level and current development of this project even semi technical users should go with gnome and not sway. Havnt tried kde plasma yet but gnome is working very smooth

[barren monolith]

yes we already mention this in the images section

current development of the project

this doesn't affect sway's usability for nontechnical users 🙂

[arctic vine]

I really loved i3 for Endeavouros is all. personally not ready for sway here yet i guess

[barren monolith]

wdym

sway is i3-compatible

[arctic vine]

Window manager style system. Using the keyboard to navigate is what i mean.

[barren monolith]

im confused 😅 isn't it the same as on i3?

also i use sway and primarily navigate with the mouse

[arctic vine]

Yes and i loved it

[barren monolith]

everything but launching apps and fullscreening them

[barren monolith]

so then what aren't you ready for

you haven't explained it 😅

[arctic vine]

I just can't get sway working properly.

Ignore me

[barren monolith]

right but you haven't described what isn't working so I can't help identify the issue...

you're just saying it's not working 😅

[arctic vine]

I'll keep playing with this

[barren monolith]

....

or you could just say what the issue is 😅

[arctic vine]

Issues:
-I used ventoy for sway install
-thought secure boot manual setup worked after sway install
-added power on password and secure boot was not configured correctly
-had to remove cmos battery to erase power on password to be able to remove secure boot in bios
-time sync issues as outlined above
-reinstalled sway
-fixed all those problems
-something wrong with config files and could not write to cache so trivalent wasn't working

-gave up on sway used etcher installed gnome literally zero issues.

[barren monolith]

we recommend fedora media writer in the install instructions, but that won't affect sway

and none of the issues you described have any connection to DE/wm

time sync issues were likely cmos related

-something wrong with config files and could not write to cache so trivalent wasn't working

this was broken in all images including gnome

i think your reinstallation "fixing things" was entirely coincidental 😛

[arctic vine]

[crude spindle]

same issue, again, solved with this. it was really perplexing, i was checking everything including the firewall bc I figured there was no way the sources would be fucked up. really weird issue, but thanks!

[severe ember]

hmm, you're the third person to experience this

so it's looking like possibly a bug. if you or anyone else can share more info about how you installed secureblue, which setup and settings programs you've used, that'd be cool

unless this is a known issue already

[crude spindle]

Well I used fedora media writer so it isnt related to that

I'm using the nvidia Turing and later

Gnome enviorment

[severe ember]

i mean after that point - like the settings in Anaconda, the GNOME initial setup and GNOME Settings

@dawn owl sorry if i'm misremembering, but weren't you looking into something time-related?

[dawn owl]

Check this out: https://discord.com/channels/1202086019298500629/1467633614958231565

Maybe the thread starter hit the "Anaconda copyting its own config to the installed system" thing I describe in this RFC

[severe ember]

yep that looks more than likely

maybe a firstrun service to copy chrony.conf back again

in case we don't do that already

yep, i think we need to do that here: https://github.com/secureblue/secureblue/blob/live/files/system/usr/libexec/secureblue/securebluecleanup

and it would fix this bug?

🐛

i'm afk atm, but if someone else gets round to it maybe ping me?

[dawn owl]

Actually, I also remember that when I installed secureblue inside a VM with no network at all, ⁨ujust audit-secureblue⁩ screamed at me to enable ⁨chrony⁩ service, so maybe it ended up disabled altogether? Not sure about the config.

Adding this piece of info to the RFC thread

[severe ember]

Anaconda trying to be clever 😌
Anaconda trying to be clever