clock_gettime (2)

Leading comments

	$OpenBSD: clock_gettime.2,v 1.4 1997/05/08 20:21:16 kstailey Exp $

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(The comments found at the beginning of the groff file "man2/clock_gettime.2freebsd".)

NAME

clock_gettime clock_settime clock_getres - get/set/calibrate date and time

LIBRARY

Lb libc

SYNOPSIS

In time.h Ft int Fn clock_gettime clockid_t clock_id struct timespec *tp Ft int Fn clock_settime clockid_t clock_id const struct timespec *tp Ft int Fn clock_getres clockid_t clock_id struct timespec *tp

DESCRIPTION

The Fn clock_gettime and Fn clock_settime system calls allow the calling process to retrieve or set the value used by a clock which is specified by Fa clock_id .

The Fa clock_id argument can be one of the following values: CLOCK_REALTIME CLOCK_REALTIME_PRECISE CLOCK_REALTIME_FAST for time that increments as a wall clock should; CLOCK_MONOTONIC CLOCK_MONOTONIC_PRECISE CLOCK_MONOTONIC_FAST which increments in SI seconds; CLOCK_UPTIME CLOCK_UPTIME_PRECISE CLOCK_UPTIME_FAST which starts at zero when the kernel boots and increments monotonically in SI seconds while the machine is running; CLOCK_VIRTUAL for time that increments only when the CPU is running in user mode on behalf of the calling process; CLOCK_PROF for time that increments when the CPU is running in user or kernel mode; or CLOCK_SECOND which returns the current second without performing a full time counter query, using in-kernel cached value of current second.

The clock IDs Fa CLOCK_REALTIME_FAST , Fa CLOCK_MONOTONIC_FAST , Fa CLOCK_UPTIME_FAST are analogs of corresponding IDs without _FAST suffix but do not perform a full time counter query, so their accuracy is one timer tick. Similarly, Fa CLOCK_REALTIME_PRECISE , Fa CLOCK_MONOTONIC_PRECISE , Fa CLOCK_UPTIME_PRECISE are used to get the most exact value as possible, at the expense of execution time.

The structure pointed to by Fa tp is defined in In sys/timespec.h as:

struct timespec {
        time_t  tv_sec;         /* seconds */
        long    tv_nsec;        /* and nanoseconds */
};

Only the super-user may set the time of day, using only Fa CLOCK_REALTIME . If the system securelevel is greater than 1 (see init(8)), the time may only be advanced. This limitation is imposed to prevent a malicious super-user from setting arbitrary time stamps on files. The system time can still be adjusted backwards using the adjtime(2) system call even when the system is secure.

The resolution (granularity) of a clock is returned by the Fn clock_getres system call. This value is placed in a (non-NULL) Fa *tp .

RETURN VALUES

Rv -std

ERRORS

The following error codes may be set in errno

Bq Er EINVAL

The Fa clock_id argument was not a valid value.

Bq Er EFAULT

The Fa *tp argument address referenced invalid memory.

Bq Er EPERM

A user other than the super-user attempted to set the time.

SEE ALSO

date(1), adjtime(2), ctime(3), timed(8)

STANDARDS

The Fn clock_gettime , Fn clock_settime , and Fn clock_getres system calls conform to St -p1003.1b-93 . The clock IDs Fa CLOCK_REALTIME_FAST , Fa CLOCK_REALTIME_PRECISE , Fa CLOCK_MONOTONIC_FAST , Fa CLOCK_MONOTONIC_PRECISE , Fa CLOCK_UPTIME , Fa CLOCK_UPTIME_FAST , Fa CLOCK_UPTIME_PRECISE , Fa CLOCK_SECOND are FreeBSD extensions to the POSIX interface.