24

This question shows how to stop automatic time update (and switch to manual):

How to stop automatic time update?

I want to do this exact thing but I can only ssh onto my machine so I need to make this change through the terminal. Is there any way to do this?

|improve this question
  • 4
    Possible duplicate of how do I disable ntpd? – Aizuddin Zali Oct 8 '15 at 15:23
  • 3
    @AizuddinZali I would say it isn't - since he gets errors telling him that ntp.service isn't loaded and sudo /etc/init.d/ntp stop doesn't work - see comments on my answer – TellMeWhy Oct 8 '15 at 15:41
  • yes, it has to do with gnome time & date setting. – Aizuddin Zali Oct 8 '15 at 15:42
  • Right, I'm just wondering id there's a way to change settings from terminal, or is there a file somewhere I need to change a line of? I tried 'conf watch /' while I changed the setting in the gui but it didn't show anything (but changing some other settings did) – GeneralAsh Oct 8 '15 at 15:57
  • ntp and GNOME Automatic Date & Time isn't the same. – A.B. Oct 8 '15 at 16:07
39

GNOME Automatic Date & Time doesn't use the ntp service, installable via sudo apt-get install ntp. Therefore stopping or uninstalling the service doesn't help.

Systemd timedatectl is used, therefore one command to switch off

timedatectl set-ntp 0

and one command to switch on

timedatectl set-ntp 1

Example

enter image description here

% timedatectl set-ntp 1

enter image description here

or via timedatectl status

% timedatectl status
      Local time: Do 2015-10-08 18:17:17 CEST
  Universal time: Do 2015-10-08 16:17:17 UTC
        RTC time: Do 2015-10-08 16:17:17
       Time zone: Europe/Berlin (CEST, +0200)
     NTP enabled: no
NTP synchronized: yes
 RTC in local TZ: no
      DST active: yes
 Last DST change: DST began at
                  So 2015-03-29 01:59:59 CET
                  So 2015-03-29 03:00:00 CEST
 Next DST change: DST ends (the clock jumps one hour backwards) at
                  So 2015-10-25 02:59:59 CEST
                  So 2015-10-25 02:00:00 CET

% timedatectl set-ntp 1

% timedatectl status
      Local time: Do 2015-10-08 18:17:35 CEST
  Universal time: Do 2015-10-08 16:17:35 UTC
        RTC time: Do 2015-10-08 16:17:35
       Time zone: Europe/Berlin (CEST, +0200)
     NTP enabled: yes
NTP synchronized: yes
 RTC in local TZ: no
      DST active: yes
 Last DST change: DST began at
                  So 2015-03-29 01:59:59 CET
                  So 2015-03-29 03:00:00 CEST
 Next DST change: DST ends (the clock jumps one hour backwards) at
                  So 2015-10-25 02:59:59 CEST
                  So 2015-10-25 02:00:00 CET
|improve this answer
  • Thank you! This is exactly what I was looking for. This is the setting that is changed when you switch between manual and automatic in the System Settings – GeneralAsh Oct 8 '15 at 16:27
7

On a systemd operating system like Ubuntu 15.04 use the timedatectl utility, which makes the same Desktop Bus RPC calls as the GNOME control centre utility does:

timedatectl set-ntp false

Further reading

|improve this answer
4

What you are looking for is not ntpd which is not installed by default. It's an if-up.d script which run time update whenever a network interface activated.

dconf watch / shows nothing but inotifywait -m -r /etc/ will do.

/etc/network/if-up.d/ MOVED_FROM ntpdate
/etc/network/if-up.d/ MOVED_TO ntpdate.disabled

It belongs to ntpdate package.

$ dpkg -S /etc/network/if-up.d/ntpdate
ntpdate: /etc/network/if-up.d/ntpdate

So to disable time update, rename that file same as the control center does:

sudo mv /etc/network/if-up.d/ntpdate /etc/network/if-up.d/ntpdate.disabled
|improve this answer
  • 1
    I was also irritated, dconf watch / shows a change for the timezone, but not for the automatic date/time settings. Good one =) – A.B. Oct 8 '15 at 16:27

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.