Re: [chrony-dev] new feature request: add "fast" and "slow" to "clock wrong" and "clock stepped" log messages

[Miroslav Lichvar <mlichvar@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, Oct 27, 2017 at 10:31:16AM -0600, James Feeney wrote:
> How about, rather than using the term "wrong", instead use the terms "fast" and "slow" to describe this quantity "1.693005 seconds"?  Then the log message might read:
> 
> chronyd[622]: System clock fast by 1.693005 seconds, adjustment started
> 
> or
> 
> chronyd[622]: System clock slow by 1.693005 seconds, adjustment started

I agree this would be much clearer for the user. I never remember
which sign is for fast and slow in what context (it's not consistent
unfortunately). The trouble is that it would break existing scripts
that parse the log and the parsing itself would be more difficult if
it had to look for the word "slow" or "fast" instead of the sign. I'm
not sure how important that really is.

Do you think it would make sense to keep the sign and indicate whether
it's fast or slow in parentheses?

System clock wrong by +/-?.??????? (slow/fast) ?

System clock stepped by +/-?.??????? (forward/backward) ?

There are other messages that print an offset, so maybe they could be
all changed at once to keep it consistent.

What do others think?

-- 
Miroslav Lichvar

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