[systemd-devel] systemctl start seems to hang with no status

[Ulrich Windl]

Hi!

After a change in configuration ,updates and a reboot, I saw thgis  probel in
SLES12 SP5 (systemd-228-157.30.1.x86_64):
ntpd.service failed during boot. For some reason /etc/ntp.conf was missing (my
fault).
After restoring /etc/ntp.conf and trying a start, start never seems to finish
and I see no logs that something is even attempted.

Some logs:
Oct 22 12:55:46 v07 start-ntpd[1431]: Time server configuration file,
/etc/ntp.conf does not exist.
Oct 22 12:55:46 v07 systemd[1]: ntpd.service: Control process exited,
code=exited status=6
Oct 22 12:55:46 v07 systemd[1]: Failed to start NTP Server Daemon.
Oct 22 12:55:46 v07 systemd[1]: Dependency failed for Wait for ntpd to
synchronize system clock.
Oct 22 12:55:46 v07 systemd[1]: ntp-wait.service: Job ntp-wait.service/start
failed with result 'dependency'.
Oct 22 12:55:46 v07 systemd[1]: ntpd.service: Unit entered failed state.
Oct 22 12:55:46 v07 systemd[1]: ntpd.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Oct 22 12:55:46 v07 systemd[1]: Reached target System Time Synchronized.

Interestingly I wouldn't expect "Reached target System Time Synchronized.".

Status when "systemctl start ntpd" was running for some time already:
v07:~ # systemctl status ntpd.service
● ntpd.service - NTP Server Daemon
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/ntpd.service; enabled; vendor
preset: disabled)
  Drop-In: /run/systemd/generator/ntpd.service.d
           └─50-insserv.conf-$time.conf
   Active: activating (auto-restart) (Result: exit-code) since Fri 2021-10-22
12:55:46 CEST; 7min ago
     Docs: man:ntpd(1)
    Tasks: 0 (limit: 512)

Oct 22 12:55:46 v07 systemd[1]: ntpd.service: Control process exited, ...=6
Oct 22 12:55:46 v07 systemd[1]: Failed to start NTP Server Daemon.
Oct 22 12:55:46 v07 systemd[1]: ntpd.service: Unit entered failed state.
Oct 22 12:55:46 v07 systemd[1]: ntpd.service: Failed with result 'exit...'.
Hint: Some lines were ellipsized, use -l to show in full.

After significant time:
Oct 22 13:06:47 v07 systemd[1]: ntpd.service: Service RestartSec=11min
expired, scheduling restart.
Oct 22 13:06:47 v07 systemd[1]: Stopped NTP Server Daemon.
Oct 22 13:06:47 v07 systemd[1]: Starting NTP Server Daemon...
Oct 22 13:06:47 v07 ntpd[3998]: ntpd 4.2.8p15 at 1.3728-o Mon Jun 21 18:17:38 UTC
2021 (1): Starting
Oct 22 13:06:47 v07 ntpd[3998]: Command line: /usr/sbin/ntpd -p
/var/run/ntp/ntpd.pid -g -u ntp:ntp -c /etc/ntp.conf
Oct 22 13:06:47 v07 ntpd[3998]:
----------------------------------------------------
Oct 22 13:06:47 v07 ntpd[3998]: ntp-4 is maintained by Network Time
Foundation,
Oct 22 13:06:47 v07 ntpd[3998]: Inc. (NTF), a non-profit 501(c)(3)
public-benefit
...
Oct 22 13:06:47 v07 systemd[1]: Started NTP Server Daemon.

I don't understand: Was the missing ntp.conf file blocking the service for 11
minutes?

v07:~ # systemctl status ntp-wait.service
● ntp-wait.service - Wait for ntpd to synchronize system clock
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/ntp-wait.service; enabled; vendor
preset: disabled)
   Active: inactive (dead)

Oct 22 12:55:46 v07 systemd[1]: Dependency failed for Wait for ntpd to
synchronize system clock.
Oct 22 12:55:46 v07 systemd[1]: ntp-wait.service: Job ntp-wait.service/start
failed with result 'dependency'.

Regards,
Ulrich