[pkg-ntp-maintainers] Bug#441377: 'burst' server option broken in etch (upstream bug 741)

[Michel Lespinasse]

Package: ntp
Version: 1:4.2.2.p4+dfsg-2

The ntp package as included in etch does not properly support the 'burst'
option in ntp.conf. If a local client tries to synchronize with
time.example.net using a line such as 'server time.example.net burst iburst'
in its ntp.conf file, the burst option will be ignored.

This is known in upstream (https://support.ntp.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=741)
and has been fixed, just not in the version shipped in etch.

While this will have a low impact for most people, some network configurations
can make this worse. I found out about the issue because I have machines
on an internal subnet with the gateway providing proxy arp in a supposedly
transparent fashion. Linux by default delays proxy arp replies for about
100 ms to avoid any potential issues with looped networks. This delay has
been messing up the ntp time synchronization for machines on that subnet,
an issue that was previously worked around by using the 'burst' keyword
(only the first packet in the burst was delayed by the proxy arp issue).

The fix as described in the upstream bugtracker is a one-liner.
I'm not sure if a backport in the next etch update (if any) would be
justified or not.

-- 
Michel "Walken" Lespinasse
"Bill Gates is a monocle and a Persian cat away from being the villain
in a James Bond movie." -- Dennis Miller