bug#22274: GuixSD resets hardware clock (on Lenovo x200 with libreboot)

[Christopher Allan Webber <cwebber@dustycloud.org>]

Ludovic Courtès writes:

>> So I did this, and it stopped resetting the hardware clock for Debian as
>> well when I rebooted into Guix.
>
> Could you check in /var/log/messages or nearby if there were relevant
> messages from ntpd?
>
> I wouldn’t expect it to reset the date.  I always run it on my laptop,
> and nothing ever went havoc, whether or not networking access was
> available.

I'll check it.  Maybe it never reset the date or the hardware clock at
all, and some attempt of me trying to run 'hwclock -w' on a system set
to 1969 set the date???  I'll look further.

It could be that it had failed to read the hardware clock all along in
recent updates, but never did anything about writing to the hardware
clock.

>> It also makes me think that there's no reason we should have
>> ntp-service-type in %desktop-services, though that's a separate issue.
>
> Maybe, I’m open to discussion.  My impression is that it’s “usually”
> enabled by default on desktop distros.  Then again I’ve been told that
> tlsdate would be sufficient and safer.

Hm ok!

>> Not only that, but I verified that my friend Aeva hits the *same*
>> "problem" and "solution"...!
>
> Same hardware?

Same hardware, both of us got x200 Libreboot-enabled laptops from
Minifree.  She doesn't have Debian on hers though, only GuixSD,
so I was not able to check as many things.

Hilariously, we both found it most visible because we noticed SSL certs
being marked invalid because the machine thought they certs wouldn't be
valid for another 45ish years :)

>> *** Most recent Guix system (Linux-Libre 4.3.3) ***
>>
>> bash-4.3$ date
>> Wed Dec 31 18:01:42 CST 1969
>> bash-4.3$ sudo hwclock -r
>> hwclock: ioctl(RTC_RD_TIME) to /dev/rtc to read the time failed: Invalid argument
>
> Anything in /var/log/messages, tty12, or similar?
>
> Could it be a driver issue?
>
> Works for me (a Dell laptop) with recentish GuixSD:
>
> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
> $ sudo hwclock -r
> Mon 04 Jan 2016 03:59:40 PM CET  .950405 seconds
> $ uname -a
> Linux pluto 4.3.3-gnu #1 SMP Wed Dec 16 18:40:47 UTC 2015 x86_64 GNU/Linux
> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

I'll check /var/log/messages and report back after next reboot into Guix.

>> When I'm not on a train I can try building the "current" system with
>> Linux-Libre 4.2.5 and see if it's really the kernel.
>
> Yes, that would be helpful!  It would be nice to check with other X200
> users too.
>
> Thanks for investigating!
>
> Ludo’.

Okay, I'll try all these things as soon as I'm not tethering from a
phone :)