adjtime_config - information about hardware clock setting and drift factor
Contents
Availability
adjtime_config is part of the util-linux package which can be downloaded from Linux Kernel Archive
<https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/>.
util-linux 2.41 2025-02-26 ADJTIME_CONFIG(5)
Description
The file /etc/adjtime contains descriptive information about the hardware mode clock setting and clock
drift factor. The file is read and write by hwclock(8); and read by programs like rtcwake to get RTC time
mode.
The file is usually located in /etc, but tools like hwclock(8) or rtcwake(8) can use alternative location
by command line options if write access to /etc is unwanted. The default clock mode is "UTC" if the file
is missing.
The Hardware Clock is usually not very accurate. However, much of its inaccuracy is completely
predictable - it gains or loses the same amount of time every day. This is called systematic drift. The
util hwclock(8) keeps the file /etc/adjtime, that keeps some historical information. For more details see
"TheAdjustFunction" and "TheAdjtimeFile" sections from hwclock(8) man page.
The adjtime file is formatted in ASCII.
Firstline
Three numbers, separated by blanks:
driftfactor
the systematic drift rate in seconds per day (floating point decimal)
lastadjusttime
the resulting number of seconds since 1969 UTC of most recent adjustment or calibration (decimal
integer)
adjustmentstatus
zero (for compatibility with clock(8)) as a floating point decimal
Secondlinelastcalibrationtime
The resulting number of seconds since 1969 UTC of most recent calibration. Zero if there has been no
calibration yet or it is known that any previous calibration is moot (for example, because the
Hardware Clock has been found, since that calibration, not to contain a valid time). This is a
decimal integer.
Thirdlineclockmode
Supported values are UTC or LOCAL. Tells whether the Hardware Clock is set to Coordinated Universal
Time or local time. You can always override this value with options on the hwclock(8) command line.
Files
/etc/adjtime
Name
adjtime_config - information about hardware clock setting and drift factor
Reporting Bugs
For bug reports, use the issue tracker <https://github.com/util-linux/util-linux/issues>.
See Also
hwclock(8), rtcwake(8)
Synopsis
/etc/adjtime
