4

I'm looking for an code example of NTP client write in C. I found this: Fixed some things on code,and it's able to compile. But after "sending data.." it don't nothing. I have no idea how to fix this. Where is problem into code or server? Thanks in advance.

/*
 * This code will query a ntp server for the local time and display
 * it.  it is intended to show how to use a NTP server as a time
 * source for a simple network connected device.
 * This is the C version.  The orignal was in Perl
 *
 * For better clock management see the offical NTP info at:
 * http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~ntp/
 *
 * written by Tim Hogard (thogard@abnormal.com)
 * Thu Sep 26 13:35:41 EAST 2002
 * Converted to C Fri Feb 21 21:42:49 EAST 2003
 * this code is in the public domain.
 * it can be found here http://www.abnormal.com/~thogard/ntp/
 *
 */
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>
#include <arpa/inet.h>
#include <netdb.h>
#include <time.h>
#include <string.h>

void ntpdate();

int main() {
    ntpdate();
    return 0;
}

void ntpdate() {
char    *hostname="tick.usno.navy.mil";
int portno=123;     //NTP is port 123
int maxlen=1024;        //check our buffers
int i;          // misc var i
unsigned char msg[48]={010,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0};    // the packet we send
unsigned long  buf[maxlen]; // the buffer we get back
//struct in_addr ipaddr;        //  
struct protoent *proto;     //
struct sockaddr_in server_addr;
int s;  // socket
int tmit;   // the time -- This is a time_t sort of

//use Socket;
//
//#we use the system call to open a UDP socket
//socket(SOCKET, PF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, getprotobyname("udp")) or die "socket: $!";
proto=getprotobyname("udp");
s=socket(PF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, proto->p_proto);
if(s) {
    perror("asd");
    printf("socket=%d\n",s);
}
//
//#convert hostname to ipaddress if needed
//$ipaddr   = inet_aton($HOSTNAME);
memset( &server_addr, 0, sizeof( server_addr ));
server_addr.sin_family=AF_INET;
server_addr.sin_addr.s_addr = inet_addr(hostname);
//argv[1] );
//i   = inet_aton(hostname,&server_addr.sin_addr);
server_addr.sin_port=htons(portno);
//printf("ipaddr (in hex): %x\n",server_addr.sin_addr);

/*
 * build a message.  Our message is all zeros except for a one in the
 * protocol version field
 * msg[] in binary is 00 001 000 00000000 
 * it should be a total of 48 bytes long
*/

// send the data
printf("sending data..\n");
i=sendto(s,msg,sizeof(msg),0,(struct sockaddr *)&server_addr,sizeof(server_addr));

// get the data back
i=recv(s,buf,sizeof(buf),0);
printf("recvfr: %d\n",i);
//perror("recvfr:");

//We get 12 long words back in Network order
/*
for(i=0;i<12;i++)
    printf("%d\t%-8x\n",i,ntohl(buf[i]));
*/

/*
 * The high word of transmit time is the 10th word we get back
 * tmit is the time in seconds not accounting for network delays which
 * should be way less than a second if this is a local NTP server
 */

tmit=ntohl((time_t)buf[10]);    //# get transmit time
//printf("tmit=%d\n",tmit);

/*
 * Convert time to unix standard time NTP is number of seconds since 0000
 * UT on 1 January 1900 unix time is seconds since 0000 UT on 1 January
 * 1970 There has been a trend to add a 2 leap seconds every 3 years.
 * Leap seconds are only an issue the last second of the month in June and
 * December if you don't try to set the clock then it can be ignored but
 * this is importaint to people who coordinate times with GPS clock sources.
 */

tmit-= 2208988800U; 
//printf("tmit=%d\n",tmit);
/* use unix library function to show me the local time (it takes care
 * of timezone issues for both north and south of the equator and places
 * that do Summer time/ Daylight savings time.
 */


//#compare to system time
printf("Time: %s",ctime(&tmit));
i=time(0);
//printf("%d-%d=%d\n",i,tmit,i-tmit);
printf("System time is %d seconds off\n",i-tmit);
}
Jack
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5 Answers5

4

It is not sure whether sendto() is blocking.

To test this you might like to add

printf("receiving data..\n");

prior to the call to recv().


Also the recv() call could block.

It awaits sizeof(buf) bytes, which is 1024* sizeof(long).

From the comments in the source we learn that 12 long words are expected, so you might consider telling recv() this by changing the call to recv() like so:

i = recv(s, buf, 12*sizeof(buf[0]), 0);

Despite all this I'd strongly recommend to add error checking to system calls, like sendo() and recv() also are. To do so for these two, test the value they return to be -1, and do some error handling if so.

For other system calls other values might indicate an error. See man <method name> for details.

alk
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  • I have changed `recv()` size and added `printf()` to debug it,as you mentioned, and is the `recv()` function that's blocking. I tried too that given `48`: `sizeof(buf)/ sizeof(buf[0])`. But it given same "error". – Jack May 25 '12 at 16:25
  • Now I see that `i=send(s, msg, 48, 0);` is retuning `-1`. – Jack May 25 '12 at 16:28
  • @Jack You might check the value of `errno` and/or do a call to `perror()` for details on why the system call (here: `sendto()`) failed. – alk May 25 '12 at 16:33
  • Thanks. I solved this problem. But the `recv(s, buf, 48, 0);` still is blocking. – Jack May 25 '12 at 20:43
3

Here is a code working well. (not working well at all: bad timestamp - read android's post in this page made by me).

Thanks for sharing.

 /* This code will query a ntp server for the local time and display

 * it.  it is intended to show how to use a NTP server as a time
 * source for a simple network connected device.
 * This is the C version.  The orignal was in Perl
 *
 * For better clock management see the offical NTP info at:
 * http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~ntp/
 *
 * written by Tim Hogard (thogard@abnormal.com)
 * Thu Sep 26 13:35:41 EAST 2002
 * Converted to C Fri Feb 21 21:42:49 EAST 2003
 * this code is in the public domain.
 * it can be found here http://www.abnormal.com/~thogard/ntp/
 *
 */
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>
#include <arpa/inet.h>
#include <netdb.h>
#include <time.h>
#include <string.h>

void ntpdate();

int main() {
    ntpdate();
    return 0;
}

void ntpdate() {
char *hostname="163.117.202.33";
int portno=123;     //NTP is port 123
int maxlen=1024;        //check our buffers
int i;          // misc var i
unsigned char msg[48]={010,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0};    // the packet we send
unsigned long  buf[maxlen]; // the buffer we get back
//struct in_addr ipaddr;        //  
struct protoent *proto;     //
struct sockaddr_in server_addr;
int s;  // socket
int tmit;   // the time -- This is a time_t sort of

//use Socket;
//
//#we use the system call to open a UDP socket
//socket(SOCKET, PF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, getprotobyname("udp")) or die "socket: $!";
proto=getprotobyname("udp");
s=socket(PF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, proto->p_proto);
perror("socket");
//
//#convert hostname to ipaddress if needed
//$ipaddr   = inet_aton($HOSTNAME);
memset( &server_addr, 0, sizeof( server_addr ));
server_addr.sin_family=AF_INET;
server_addr.sin_addr.s_addr = inet_addr(hostname);
//argv[1] );
//i   = inet_aton(hostname,&server_addr.sin_addr);
server_addr.sin_port=htons(portno);
//printf("ipaddr (in hex): %x\n",server_addr.sin_addr);

/*
 * build a message.  Our message is all zeros except for a one in the
 * protocol version field
 * msg[] in binary is 00 001 000 00000000 
 * it should be a total of 48 bytes long
*/

// send the data
printf("sending data..\n");
i=sendto(s,msg,sizeof(msg),0,(struct sockaddr *)&server_addr,sizeof(server_addr));
perror("sendto");
// get the data back
struct sockaddr saddr;
socklen_t saddr_l = sizeof (saddr);
i=recvfrom(s,buf,48,0,&saddr,&saddr_l);
perror("recvfr:");

//We get 12 long words back in Network order
/*
for(i=0;i<12;i++)
    printf("%d\t%-8x\n",i,ntohl(buf[i]));
*/

/*
 * The high word of transmit time is the 10th word we get back
 * tmit is the time in seconds not accounting for network delays which
 * should be way less than a second if this is a local NTP server
 */

tmit=ntohl((time_t)buf[10]);    //# get transmit time
//printf("tmit=%d\n",tmit);

/*
 * Convert time to unix standard time NTP is number of seconds since 0000
 * UT on 1 January 1900 unix time is seconds since 0000 UT on 1 January
 * 1970 There has been a trend to add a 2 leap seconds every 3 years.
 * Leap seconds are only an issue the last second of the month in June and
 * December if you don't try to set the clock then it can be ignored but
 * this is importaint to people who coordinate times with GPS clock sources.
 */

tmit-= 2208988800U; 
//printf("tmit=%d\n",tmit);
/* use unix library function to show me the local time (it takes care
 * of timezone issues for both north and south of the equator and places
 * that do Summer time/ Daylight savings time.
 */


//#compare to system time
printf("Time: %s",ctime(&tmit));
i=time(0);
//printf("%d-%d=%d\n",i,tmit,i-tmit);
printf("System time is %d seconds off\n",i-tmit);
}

And here the output:

$ ./sntp_client 
socket: Success
sending data..
sendto: Success
recvfr:: Success
Time: Sun Sep 26 16:00:32 4213
System time is -702316565 seconds off
user1189104
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  • i am getting a bad date in return "time is Mon Jan 1 00:00:00 1900" (have changed server and same answer). any idea? – tony gil Nov 07 '13 at 11:30
  • these are the 12 words i get back: 0 c0101ed 1 1e 2 d625f93c 3 0 4 d625f94b 5 d625f94b 6 0 7 0 8 0 9 0 10 0 11 0 the tenth is 0, so i get 1/1/1900 BUTBUTBUTBUT other words represent the correct date, specifically the 2nd, 4th and 5th words. – tony gil Nov 07 '13 at 11:42
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    just look the last code I posted, the android one. try to replace android methods by linux ones. cheers – user1189104 Nov 08 '13 at 13:18
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    thanx! i just changed the array pointer to the second word. :) – tony gil Nov 08 '13 at 23:27
0

Here is the code that is modified by me and compiles and executes too.
It is tested on server 2003, VS 2008. This is windows equivalent code for the Unix one u have supplied

#include <stdio.h>
//#include <sys/types.h>
//#include <sys/socket.h>
//#include <netinet/in.h>
//#include <arpa/inet.h>
//#include <netdb.h>
#include <time.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <winsock2.h>
#include <ws2tcpip.h>
#include <tchar.h>

#pragma comment(lib, "Ws2_32.lib")

void ntpdate();

int main() {
    ntpdate();
    return 0;
}

void ntpdate() {
char    *hostname="64.27.26.1";//"tick.usno.navy.mil";
int portno=123;     //NTP is port 123
int maxlen=1024;        //check our buffers
long i;          // misc var i
char msg[48]={010,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0};    // the packet we send
char  *buf = new char[1024]; // the buffer we get back
//struct in_addr ipaddr;        //  
struct protoent *proto;     //
struct sockaddr_in server_addr;
SOCKET s;  // socket
time_t tmit;   // the time -- This is a time_t sort of


//=====================================================================================
//THIS IS WHAT IS MISSING MAJORILY  
//=====================================================================================
        //Initialise the winsock stack
        WSADATA wsaData;
        BYTE wsMajorVersion = 1;
        BYTE wsMinorVersion = 1;
        WORD wVersionRequested = MAKEWORD(wsMinorVersion, wsMajorVersion);   
        if (WSAStartup(wVersionRequested, &wsaData) != 0) 
        {
            _tprintf(_T("Failed to load winsock stack\n"));
            WSACleanup();
            return;
        }
        if (LOBYTE(wsaData.wVersion) != wsMajorVersion || HIBYTE(wsaData.wVersion) != wsMinorVersion)
        {
            _tprintf(_T("Winsock stack does not support version which this program requires\n"));
            WSACleanup();
            return;
        }
//=====================================================================================



//use Socket;
//
//#we use the system call to open a UDP socket
//socket(SOCKET, PF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, getprotobyname("udp")) or die "socket: $!";
proto=getprotobyname("udp");
int err = GetLastError();
s=socket(PF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, proto->p_proto);
if(s) {
    perror("asd");
    printf("socket=%d\n",s);
}
//
//#convert hostname to ipaddress if needed
//$ipaddr   = inet_aton($HOSTNAME);
memset( &server_addr, 0, sizeof( server_addr ));
server_addr.sin_family=AF_INET;
server_addr.sin_addr.s_addr = inet_addr(hostname);
//argv[1] );
//i   = inet_aton(hostname,&server_addr.sin_addr);
server_addr.sin_port=htons(portno);
//printf("ipaddr (in hex): %x\n",server_addr.sin_addr);

/*
 * build a message.  Our message is all zeros except for a one in the
 * protocol version field
 * msg[] in binary is 00 001 000 00000000 
 * it should be a total of 48 bytes long
*/

// send the data
printf("sending data..\n");
i=sendto(s,msg,sizeof(msg),0,(struct sockaddr *)&server_addr,sizeof(server_addr));

int iResult = -1;
    // Receive until the peer closes the connection
    //do {

        iResult = recv(s, buf, 1024, 0);
        if ( iResult > 0 )
            printf("Bytes received: %d\n", iResult);
        else if ( iResult == 0 )
            printf("Connection closed\n");
        else
            printf("recv failed: %d\n", WSAGetLastError());

    //} while( iResult > 0 );

/*
 * The high word of transmit time is the 10th word we get back
 * tmit is the time in seconds not accounting for network delays which
 * should be way less than a second if this is a local NTP server
 */

tmit=ntohl((time_t)buf[10]);    //# get transmit time
//printf("tmit=%d\n",tmit);

/*
 * Convert time to unix standard time NTP is number of seconds since 0000
 * UT on 1 January 1900 unix time is seconds since 0000 UT on 1 January
 * 1970 There has been a trend to add a 2 leap seconds every 3 years.
 * Leap seconds are only an issue the last second of the month in June and
 * December if you don't try to set the clock then it can be ignored but
 * this is importaint to people who coordinate times with GPS clock sources.
 */

tmit -= 2208988800U; 
//printf("tmit=%d\n",tmit);
/* use unix library function to show me the local time (it takes care
 * of timezone issues for both north and south of the equator and places
 * that do Summer time/ Daylight savings time.
 */


//#compare to system time
printf("Time: %s",ctime(&tmit));
i=time(0);
//printf("%d-%d=%d\n",i,tmit,i-tmit);
printf("System time is %d seconds off\n",i-tmit);
}
0

you should use: recvfrom() function from the POSIX libc on any POSIX compatible system, as Unix like ones. Or inclusive Windows. As it supports some basic POSIX functions.

read the manual of using UDP sockets, not oriented to connections. they're some special.

have a nice day. and hope my post helps you.

cheers;

abel.

user1189104
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  • Also you should change the ntp server that you're asking. since it seems to don't work. try us.pool.ntp.org – user1189104 Nov 05 '13 at 14:27
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    another thing is you are calling inet_addr() with a hostname. You should resolve first that host, or just use the ipaddress. – user1189104 Nov 05 '13 at 14:32
0

Here you have a complete NTP client, I've coded yesterday basing on your code.

gracias ;)

it's ported to android, so you would have to change some function to make it work under linux and uncomment some main(), isn't?

 /* This code will query a ntp server for the local time and display
 * it.  it is intended to show how to use a NTP server as a time
 * source for a simple network connected device.
 * This is the C version.  The orignal was in Perl
 *
 * For better clock management see the offical NTP info at:
 * http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~ntp/
 *
 * written by Tim Hogard (thogard@abnormal.com)
 * Thu Sep 26 13:35:41 EAST 2002
 * Converted to C Fri Feb 21 21:42:49 EAST 2003
 * this code is in the public domain.
 * it can be found here http://www.abnormal.com/~thogard/ntp/
 *
 * ported to android 4.3 on mar/nov/5 - 2013 by abel.
 * the same day ported to a library for agpsd layer.
 */
/*
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>
#include <arpa/inet.h>
#include <netdb.h>
#include <time.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <utils/SystemClock.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <math.h>
#include <sys/time.h>
#define NTP_MODE_CLIENT 3
#define NTP_VERSION 3
#define TRANSMIT_TIME_OFFSET 40
#define REFERENCE_TIME_OFFSET 16
#define ORIGINATE_TIME_OFFSET 24
#define RECEIVE_TIME_OFFSET 32
#define OFFSET_1900_TO_1970 ((uint64_t)((365 * 70) + 17) * 24 * 60 * 60)
*/
void ntpdate(uint64_t *cachedTime, uint64_t *cachedTimeRef, uint64_t *cacheCertainty);
/*
int main() {
    uint64_t cachedTime, cachedTimeRef, cacheCertainty;
    ntpdate(&cachedTime, &cachedTimeRef, &cacheCertainty);
    printf ("%lld\n, %lld\n, %lld\n", cachedTime, cachedTimeRef, cacheCertainty);
    return 0;
}
*/
double random2 () {
    srandom(time(NULL));
    return random();
}

uint64_t currentTimeMillis(/*long int seconds, long int miliseconds*/) {
    struct timeval te; 
    gettimeofday(&te, NULL); // get current time
    uint64_t millis = (uint64_t) te.tv_sec * 1000 + floor(te.tv_usec / 1000); // caculate milliseconds
//  printf ("millis: %llu\n", millis);
    return millis;
}

uint32_t read32(char* buffer, int offset) {
    char b0 = buffer[offset];
    char b1 = buffer[offset+1];
    char b2 = buffer[offset+2];
    char b3 = buffer[offset+3];

    // convert signed bytes to unsigned values
    uint32_t i0 = ((b0 & 0x80) == 0x80 ? (b0 & 0x7F) + 0x80 : b0);
    uint32_t i1 = ((b1 & 0x80) == 0x80 ? (b1 & 0x7F) + 0x80 : b1);
    uint32_t i2 = ((b2 & 0x80) == 0x80 ? (b2 & 0x7F) + 0x80 : b2);
    uint32_t i3 = ((b3 & 0x80) == 0x80 ? (b3 & 0x7F) + 0x80 : b3);

    uint32_t v = (i0 << 24) + (i1 << 16) + (i2 << 8) + i3;
    return v;
}

uint64_t readTimeStamp(char *buffer, int offset) {
    uint32_t seconds  = read32(buffer, offset);
    uint32_t fraction = read32(buffer, offset + 4);
    uint64_t v = ((int64_t)seconds - OFFSET_1900_TO_1970) * 1000 + (int64_t) fraction * 1000 / (int64_t) 0x100000000;
//  printf ("%llu\n", v);
    return v;
}


void writeTimeStamp(char* buffer, int offset, long long int time) {
    uint64_t seconds = floor (time / 1000);
    uint64_t milliseconds = time - (uint64_t) seconds * 1000;
    seconds += OFFSET_1900_TO_1970;

    // write seconds in big endian format
    buffer[offset++] = (char)(seconds >> 24);
    buffer[offset++] = (char)(seconds >> 16);
    buffer[offset++] = (char)(seconds >> 8);
    buffer[offset++] = (char)(seconds >> 0);

    uint64_t fraction = round ((uint64_t)milliseconds * 0x100000000 / 1000);
    // write fraction in big endian format
    buffer[offset++] = (char)(fraction >> 24);
    buffer[offset++] = (char)(fraction >> 16);
    buffer[offset++] = (char)(fraction >> 8);
    // low order bits should be random data
    buffer[offset++] = (char)(random2() * 255.0);
}

void ntpdate(uint64_t *cachedTime, uint64_t *cachedTimeRef, uint64_t *cacheCertainty) {
    char hostname[]="81.184.154.182";
    int portno=123;     //NTP is port 123
    int maxlen=48;        //check our buffers
    int i;          // misc var i
    uint64_t requestTime = currentTimeMillis();
    uint64_t requestTicks = android::elapsedRealtime();
    char msg[48];
    memset (msg,0,sizeof(msg));
    msg[0]= NTP_MODE_CLIENT | (NTP_VERSION << 3);
    writeTimeStamp(msg, TRANSMIT_TIME_OFFSET, requestTime);
    char  buf[maxlen]; // the buffer we get back
    struct sockaddr_in server_addr;
    int s;  // socket
    time_t tmit;   // the time -- This is a time_t sort of

    s=socket(PF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, IPPROTO_UDP);
    memset( &server_addr, 0, sizeof( server_addr ));
    server_addr.sin_family=AF_INET;
    server_addr.sin_addr.s_addr = inet_addr(hostname);
    server_addr.sin_port=htons(portno);

    i=sendto(s,msg,sizeof(msg),0,(struct sockaddr *)&server_addr,sizeof(server_addr));
    struct sockaddr saddr;
    socklen_t saddr_l = sizeof (saddr);
    i=recvfrom(s,buf,sizeof(buf),0,&saddr,&saddr_l);

    uint64_t responseTicks = android::elapsedRealtime();
    uint64_t responseTime = requestTime + (responseTicks - requestTicks);
    uint64_t originateTime = readTimeStamp(buf, ORIGINATE_TIME_OFFSET);
    uint64_t receiveTime = readTimeStamp(buf, RECEIVE_TIME_OFFSET);
    uint64_t transmitTime = readTimeStamp(buf, TRANSMIT_TIME_OFFSET);
    uint64_t roundTripTime = responseTicks - requestTicks - (transmitTime - receiveTime);
    int32_t clockOffset = ((receiveTime - originateTime) + (transmitTime - responseTime))/2;
    //printf ("%lld + %lld = %ld %ld\n", (receiveTime - originateTime), (transmitTime - responseTime), (receiveTime - originateTime + transmitTime - responseTime)/2, clockOffset);
    uint64_t mNtpTime = responseTime + clockOffset;
    uint64_t mNtpTimeReference = responseTicks;
    uint64_t mRoundTripTime = roundTripTime;
    uint64_t mCachedNtpTime = mNtpTime;
    uint64_t mCachedNtpElapsedRealtime = mNtpTimeReference;
    uint64_t mCachedNtpCertainty = mRoundTripTime / 2;
    *cachedTime     = mCachedNtpTime;
    *cachedTimeRef  = mNtpTimeReference;
    *cacheCertainty = mCachedNtpCertainty;

//  uint64_t now = mNtpTime + android::elapsedRealtime() - mNtpTimeReference;
/*
    printf ("%lld\n", now);
    i=currentTimeMillis();
    printf("System time is %lu miliseconds off\n",i-now);
*/
}
user1189104
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