[distcc] distccmon time sync issues

[Ahlborn, James T (MED)]

> On 14 Feb 2004, Martin Pool <mbp at sourcefrog.net> wrote:
> 
> > I'm not sure if there is any easy way for distcc to detect this
> > problem though.  
> 
> On second thoughts, observing that new files appear with old
> timestamps would catch some skew.  But there would still be the
> possibility of a few seconds skew, which might be enought to corrupt
> your build.

just to clarify, my original problem here was not that distcc was not
catching the time skew, it was that the monitor wasn't showing me anything
because of the time skew.  that said, there are two approaches to fixing
this.  

- the one you mentioned above, distcc could do a little checking when it
writes files and note when it sees time skew issues (within a few seconds
would be fine).  again, i'm not asking that distcc make sure my builds
aren't corrupted, just that it give me more information if it can.

- second, (this was my original thought), the monitor could do a little
trending over time and keep track of how many "old" files it is deleting
each time it polls the state dir.  if it is continuously deleting *new*
"old" files, it could suggest to the user that time skew might be a problem,
instead of just showing no state at all.

like i said above, (for me) it's really a feedback issue, not a build
validation issue.  and yes, i do realize that in general, time skew is a
"bad thing". :)

thanks,
-james