Re: /etc/rc.d/ntpdate needs named

[Robert Elz <kre%munnari.OZ.AU@localhost>]

This discussion has been held before I believe, with no consensus to
change things.

I believe the rationale is that if you're really running a nameserver,
you need ntpd running first, otherwise there can be dnssec problems, and
that's not good.   That means, on nameserver hosts, ntp.conf (or equivalent
way of achieving the same effect) should be configured with IP addresses.

Most NetBSD hosts don't run nameservers, so the default config is to put
names (pool names) in ntp.conf because that's best both for them, and for
the global ntp community.

Config files as distributed cannot suit everyone - they're intended to
be edited to meet local requirements - that's why they are config files,
and not just parts of the distributed binaries.  The distributed configs
are best when they are best (safely) suited for the needs of the majority,
and even more so when the minority (those who also run nameservers in this
case) can be assumed to be above average in knowledge/ability.

None of this is unfamiliar to me - I also run a nameserver and ntp on the
same host - my plan for the new updated version I will be installing as soon
as my new hardware arrives, is to have a script that runs regularly and puts
the ntp pool addresses into /etc/hosts - that way they'll be available before
named starts after a reboot, but will still be current with the addresses
returned by the pool DNS lookups (even rotating the values over time).  If
I'm feeling particularly ambitious, I'll even have the script adapt to the
DNS TTL values (otherwise I'll just run it every 10 mins or so ...)

kre