From b7befd6d91207cf3f4cecd68fea0c212093906cf Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: David Woodhouse Date: Sun, 21 Jun 2026 22:53:55 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] timekeeping: Account for monotonicity adjustment in ntp_error MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit timekeeping_apply_adjustment() modifies xtime_nsec to ensure monotonicity when mult changes: xtime_nsec -= offset This ensures that the time reported to userspace does not jump when the multiplier is adjusted from one tick to the next. However, the ntp_error accumulator which tracks the difference between intended and actual clock position was not being updated to reflect this additional discrepancy. An earlier attempt at this compensation existed as: ntp_error -= (interval - offset) << ntp_error_shift but was removed in commit c2cda2a5bda9 ("timekeeping/ntp: Don't align NTP frequency adjustments to ticks") because it was a major source of NTP error. That's because (interval - offset) was wrong: the subtraction of "interval" prematurely accounted for the changed xtime_interval of the next tick, which would be correctly accounted in the next accumulation anyway — a double subtraction. What is actually needed is just the "offset" part: ntp_error must be told that xtime_nsec moved by "offset" without a corresponding change in the intended position. For the normal ±1 mult dithering this is negligible (the adjustments cancel over time), but for larger mult changes — such as when an external reference clock sets a new frequency — the one-time uncompensated offset is significant. Fix by adjusting ntp_error by the correct amount: ntp_error += offset << ntp_error_shift This keeps ntp_error consistent with the actual xtime_nsec position after the adjustment, and ensures the discrepancy is correctly smoothed away over time and the clock returns to where it should have been. Fixes: c2cda2a5bda9 ("timekeeping/ntp: Don't align NTP frequency adjustments to ticks") Signed-off-by: David Woodhouse Signed-off-by: Thomas Gleixner Assisted-by: Kiro:claude-opus-4.6-1m Acked-by: John Stultz Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260621220051.1030462-3-dwmw2@infradead.org --- kernel/time/timekeeping.c | 6 ++++++ 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+) diff --git a/kernel/time/timekeeping.c b/kernel/time/timekeeping.c index 2527a483d75c..9e1cbc590988 100644 --- a/kernel/time/timekeeping.c +++ b/kernel/time/timekeeping.c @@ -2404,6 +2404,11 @@ static __always_inline void timekeeping_apply_adjustment(struct timekeeper *tk, * xtime_nsec_2 = xtime_nsec_1 - offset * Which simplifies to: * xtime_nsec -= offset + * + * When subtracting offset from xtime_nsec, the same amount + * (in appropriate units) has to be added to ntp_error, in + * order to correctly track the delta between the time + * reported in xtime_nsec, and the intended time. */ if ((mult_adj > 0) && (tk->tkr_mono.mult + mult_adj < mult_adj)) { /* NTP adjustment caused clocksource mult overflow */ @@ -2414,6 +2419,7 @@ static __always_inline void timekeeping_apply_adjustment(struct timekeeper *tk, tk->tkr_mono.mult += mult_adj; tk->xtime_interval += interval; tk->tkr_mono.xtime_nsec -= offset; + tk->ntp_error += offset << tk->ntp_error_shift; } /*