Artix hwclock boot service vs NTP daemon: which should own clock synchronization?

Answer

The init-specific hwclock service should set system time once at boot from the hardware clock, and the NTP daemon should own all later adjustments. Running both is safe on Artix when the hwclock service is a boot-only reader and the NTP daemon is the sole ongoing discipliner of system time. The ownership split is the same in principle for OpenRC, runit, s6 and dinit; only service names and enable commands differ.

Confirmed facts

• Artix ships without systemd, so timedatectl is unavailable. Hardware clock policy is stored in /etc/adjtime and the timezone is /etc/localtime.
• Each init ships its own hwclock script that is intended to run at boot to apply the RTC to the kernel clock.
• NTP daemons such as openntpd, chrony or ntpd maintain time continuously after boot.

Likely explanation

Conflicts arise only if the hwclock service is run repeatedly or if the NTP daemon is configured to write the hardware clock on every discipline cycle while the boot service also assumes a one-time read. In practice the Artix hwclock scripts are boot-only, so the two components do not fight when left at defaults.

Per-init ownership

The principle does not change across inits, only the names to verify.

OpenRC

Verify the hwclock service runs at boot only. Check the init script and /etc/conf.d/hwclock for a one-time read. The NTP daemon owns ongoing discipline.

runit / s6 / dinit

Each init provides its own hwclock run script that is executed once during the boot runlevel. Do not enable a periodic hwclock run. Let the chosen NTP daemon own continuous sync. Service names vary by Artix release, so confirm the installed name before disabling or modifying.

Dual-boot Windows with /etc/adjtime LOCAL

If /etc/adjtime indicates LOCAL, the RTC holds local time. The NTP daemon must not force the RTC to UTC.

• UTC mode: the daemon may be allowed to periodically sync the RTC to keep the hardware clock consistent.
• LOCAL mode: configure the NTP daemon to leave the hardware clock untouched, or use the daemon-specific option that treats the RTC as local. Otherwise Windows and Linux will disagree on the clock after each boot.

This is a likely behavior pattern; exact flags differ by daemon and release.

Verification steps

1. Check hwclock policy: cat /etc/adjtime
2. Confirm timezone link: ls -l /etc/localtime
3. Confirm the init hwclock service is boot-only and not started periodically.
4. Confirm NTP daemon configuration for hardware-clock writes matches the adjtime mode.

One missing diagnostic that changes the recommendation is the current contents of /etc/adjtime, specifically whether the first line is UTC or LOCAL, and which init system is in use. Provide those to confirm the exact NTP daemon flags needed for your setup.