Documenting differences from ntp-classic

[Eric S. Raymond]

Hal Murray <hmurray at megapathdsl.net>:
> [was broadcastclient]
> 
> esr at thyrsus.com said:
> >> We really should have a single top-level file that covers all
> >> the simple differences from ntp-classic.
> > It's a section on docs/index.txt.  I'm careful to keep it up to date.
> 
> Thanks.  That looks good.  I wonder how people are going to find it.  How 
> about a pointer at the top of README and INSTALL?

Done.

Actually, you finally nudged me into doing something I've been thinking
about for a while.  The differences section is now its own page, so it's
esier to link to.

https://docs.ntpsec.org/latest/ntpsec.html

> * peer mode has been removed.  The keyword peer in ntp.conf is now
>   just an alias for keyword server.  Incoming peer packets are ignored.
> 
> Are incoming peer packets really ignored?  I thought I saw something about 
> they get treated as client requests so the other end will keep working.

That's correct.  I have removed the incorrect fragment.

> * When running as root, the ntpq utility looks in /etc/ntp.conf and
>   /usr/local/etc/ntp.keys to find credentials for control requests
>   that require authentication. Thus it is not necessary to enter
>   them by hand.
> 
> That only works if you are talking to localhost.

Or any remote host that is using the same keys file, yes?  Not hard
to imagine scenarios where it's shared among multiple hosts on a LAN.

> >From docs/includes/ntpq-body.txt
> 
> If you are running as root or otherwise have read access to the
> authkey and ntp.conf file, ntpq will mine the required credentials
> for you. Otherwise you will be prompted to enter a key ID and password.
> 
> Credentials, once entered, are retained and used for the duration
> of your ntpq session.
> 
> Should the credentials get reset when you change hosts?

Dunno.  I'm guessing you have more experience with that kind of setup
than I do.  I did mainly intend this a a convebience for querying
localhost.
-- 
		<a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/">Eric S. Raymond</a>