Re: [Ntp] Circular dependencies

[Hal Murray <[e-mail]>]

[e-mail] said:
> In practice DNS does not need precise time.  Implementations know that
> validators and signers are NOT using precise time. BIND for example signs
> records with a time stamp a hour in the past and records are supposed to be
> replaced days before they expire.

I'm thinking of a different scale on "precise", months or years rather than 
hours or days.

The usual example is a device that has been sitting on the shelf for 10 years. 
 The only time it has is when the software was built or installed, just before 
it was packaged up.

The telcom guys do that.  (Or did.)  I wouldn't be surprised by military gear 
with similar time scales.

I could easily imagine a Raspberry Pi being powered off for a whole summer.  Or a smart fridge being off for half a year if it lives at a summer home.

Anything with a file system that is operating can update the last-known-time occasionally.  That's good enough for normal certificates if "operating" means turned on once a month, maybe even once a year.

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We should collect a list of files/data that need to be updated occasionally.  The obvious ones for this group are root certificates and the time-zone database if you need local time and maybe the leap-second file.

There is the whole can of worms about the software/protocols still being in use after 10 years.

-- 
These are my opinions.  I hate spam.