The system time is few minutes off. When I try to set the correct time, as root, the reply is “It has not been possible to change the current time” (free translation). I am using openSUSE Leap 15.6
hi, welcome.
you should be able set the date and time manually without root access by just right clicking on the digital clock in the task bar panel.
mine is set to update automatically, but you can uncheck that box and adjust the time manually if you prefer.
otherwise you could go into our pc’s firmware and change the time… and consider that it might be time to change the CMOS battery if you have never done it.
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You left a number of things unmentioned - such as how you were attempting to adjust the date and time…
You’re also asking about SUSE which might do things differently to other distributions.
Setting up automatic NTP is also likely to lock manual time adjustments.
timedatectl
Local time: Fri 2025-04-25 09:41:59 +07
Universal time: Fri 2025-04-25 02:41:59 UTC
RTC time: Fri 2025-04-25 02:41:59
Time zone: Asia/Bangkok (+07, +0700)
System clock synchronized: yes
NTP service: active
RTC in local TZ: no
timedatectl set-ntp false; timedatectl
Local time: Fri 2025-04-25 09:42:29 +07
Universal time: Fri 2025-04-25 02:42:29 UTC
RTC time: Fri 2025-04-25 02:42:28
Time zone: Asia/Bangkok (+07, +0700)
System clock synchronized: yes
NTP service: inactive
RTC in local TZ: no
timedatectl set-ntp true; timedatectl
Local time: Fri 2025-04-25 09:42:43 +07
Universal time: Fri 2025-04-25 02:42:43 UTC
RTC time: Fri 2025-04-25 02:42:43
Time zone: Asia/Bangkok (+07, +0700)
System clock synchronized: yes
NTP service: active
RTC in local TZ: no
So if npt is true, try turning it off and manually set again.
Also, try re-enabling it (after setting the wrong time) and see if it kicks in.
Hello and welcome to the KDE Discuss forums.
openSUSE Leap doesn’t execute time management in a manner “different to other distributions”.
> systemctl list-unit-files | grep -i 'chrony'
chrony-dnssrv@.service static -
chrony-wait.service enabled disabled
chronyd.service enabled disabled
chrony-dnssrv@.timer disabled disabled
>
> systemctl status chronyd.service
● chronyd.service - NTP client/server
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/chronyd.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
Active: active (running) since Fri 2025-04-25 07:49:41 CEST; 2h 50min ago
Docs: man:chronyd(8)
man:chrony.conf(5)
Process: 2100 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/chronyd $OPTIONS (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Process: 2141 ExecStartPost=/usr/lib/chrony/helper update-daemon (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 2129 (chronyd)
Tasks: 1 (limit: 4915)
CPU: 603ms
CGroup: /system.slice/chronyd.service
└─2129 /usr/sbin/chronyd
Warning: some journal files were not opened due to insufficient permissions.
>
> timedatectl
Local time: Fr 2025-04-25 10:42:29 CEST
Universal time: Fr 2025-04-25 08:42:29 UTC
RTC time: Fr 2025-04-25 08:42:29
Time zone: Europe/Berlin (CEST, +0200)
System clock synchronized: yes
NTP service: active
RTC in local TZ: no
>
> chronyc tracking
Reference ID : 4F852C8A (79.133.44.138)
Stratum : 2
Ref time (UTC) : Fri Apr 25 08:42:29 2025
System time : 0.000105846 seconds slow of NTP time
Last offset : +0.000065190 seconds
RMS offset : 0.000096579 seconds
Frequency : 2.664 ppm fast
Residual freq : +0.038 ppm
Skew : 0.163 ppm
Root delay : 0.008688192 seconds
Root dispersion : 0.000205161 seconds
Update interval : 260.2 seconds
Leap status : Normal
>
> rpm --query --whatprovides /etc/chrony.conf
chrony-4.1-150400.21.5.7.x86_64
> rpm --query --whatprovides /etc/chrony.keys
chrony-4.1-150400.21.5.7.x86_64
>
> rpm --query --whatprovides /etc/chrony.d/pool.conf
chrony-pool-empty-4.1-150400.21.5.7.noarch
>
Two items which may well be “different”:
- By default openSUSE Leap provides a chrony NTP Pool configuration which uses openSUSE Time Servers – the configuration is in a file placed in ‘/etc/chrony.d/’ at installation time.
- If, you want to use other time servers you’ll have to place an appropriate configuration file in ‘/etc/chrony.d/’ and, install the “chrony-pool-empty” package from the openSUSE repositories.
Yet another openSUSE “gotcha!!” –
> file /etc/resolv.conf
/etc/resolv.conf: symbolic link to /run/netconfig/resolv.conf
>
You have to setup any specific DNS static search lists in ‘/etc/sysconfig/network/config’ –
NETCONFIG_DNS_STATIC_SEARCHLIST=""
Ditto, fine-tuning the DHCP behaviour – should work “out-of-the-box” but some specific Use Cases demand a little bit of system administration.
Further information in the openSUSE documentation: <https://doc.opensuse.org/>
Interesting.
❯ systemctl list-unit-files | grep -i 'chrony'
~ ✘ 0|1
❯
Something’s broken then? I included that comment because I guessed it wasn’t the same as Arch at least… but not sure about many other distributions.
At the very least we could say that it introduces an extra layer of complexity in it’s aim to cater to activities requiring much closer tolerances.
The main question seemed to be about not being able to manually set time, however… to which end I think the 'set-ntp false; timedatectl` should offer the required feedback where ‘synchronised’ status might lock ability to manually adjust.
Strange – the ArchWiki “chrony” entry – <https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Chrony> – mentions in section 3.1 “Starting chronyd” that –
The package provides chronyd.service, see systemd for details.
With a caveat –
The systemd service description should have been included in the Arch “chrony” package.
BTW: « openSUSE Leap 15.6 » …
> systemctl list-unit-files | grep -i 'timesyncd'
systemd-timesyncd.service disabled disabled
> systemctl status systemd-timesyncd.service
○ systemd-timesyncd.service - Network Time Synchronization
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-timesyncd.service; disabled; preset: disabled)
Active: inactive (dead)
Docs: man:systemd-timesyncd.service(8)
> rpm --query --whatprovides /usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-timesyncd.service
udev-254.24-150600.4.28.1.x86_64
>
Thank you all for your help. I can see that this forum is really helpful. The problem was indeed fixed when I marked the box “set to update automatically”.
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Meanwhile, it’s interesting to look into chrony - you can get information and set your own servers, and use burst to help out if you have unreliable updates.