MOSNTPClock (v0.1)

MOSNTPClock is a class interface to an augmented version of ios-ntp. Please see below for the original README about ios-ntp.

See the "xcode" directory for an example built to iOS 7.1. example-MOSNTPClock.xcodeproj depends on "ios-ntp" and "classes".

Overview

Implement timer to limit usage of NTP:

• Provides simple backoff in case of failure;
• Use previous synchronization values (if any) in case of error.

Class level notifications regarding success/failure.

Provide NTP time -OR- NTP time + arbitrary offset.

Test whether NTP protocol is currently active.

Test whether last iteration of time synchronization was successful.

Build requirements for ios-ntp

(XCode target) --> Build Phases --> Compile Sources --> Compiler Flags

    GCDAsyncUdpSocket.m  -fno-objc-arc -Wno-deprecated-declarations
    NetAssociation.m     -fno-objc-arc 
    NetworkClock.m       -fno-objc-arc 

Changes to ios-ntp

• Adapted ios-ntp.h to include ios-ntp-prefix.h -- Preceded with optional #define IOS_NTP_LOGGING
• Added instance variable NetworkClock :: enableUponForegrounding -- Allows the class to be foregrounded without re-activating NTP
• Add NetworkClock :: networkTimeWithOffset -- Allows fudge factor on returned time
• Clarify Notification identifiers: kNetAssociationNotification{Good,Fail}
• Specify C language numeric types

NB

• NetworkClock :: sharedNetworkClock may still be started without custom configuration if [NSDate networkTime] executes before [self sharedNTPClient]. This case may return (unstable) time before kMOSNTPClockSuccessCountThreshold is achieved.

• By contrast, [self date] and [self differenceFromSystemDate] will return out of bound values upon error or prior to NTP synchronization.

Dependencies: MOSNTPClock relies on MOSLog.

Notifications observed--

• kNetAssociationNotificationGood (from NetAssociation)
• UIApplicationDidEnterBackgroundNotification (from UIApplication)

Notifications generated--

• kMOSNTPClockTimeoutBadNotification
• kMOSNTPClockTimeoutGoodNotification

ios-ntp

An application testbed and a network time protocol client for iOS. This is a work in progress.

Created by Gavin Eadie on Oct 17, 2010

About

The clock on an iPhone, iTouch or iPad is not closely synchronized to the correct time. In the case of a device with access to the telephone system, there is a setting to enable synchronizing to the phone company time, but that time has been known to be over a minute different from UTC.

In addition, users may change their device time and severely affect applications that rely on correct times to enforce functionality.

This project contains code to provide time obtained from standard time servers using the network time protocol (NTP: RFCs 4330 and 5905). The implementation is not a rigorous as described in those RFCs since the goal was to improve time accuracy to with in a second, not to fractions of milliseconds.

This Fork

This is a fork from the original source at http://code.google.com/p/ios-ntp/ that provides ios-ntp as a static iOS framework. This makes its use easier and avoids symbol clashing.

Why fork? Well, because git and github are much more convenient than google code for me. I (jbenet) am subscribed to the RSS feed of the original project and will merge any upstream changes.

License

The MIT License Copyright (c) 2012, Ramsay Consulting

Usage

Download ios-ntp.tar.gz, and add ios-ntp.framework to your project. Make sure the file ntp.hosts is added to the project. I should show within the ios-ntp.framework/Headers directory.*

This project depends on CocoaAsyncSocket, so you may need to get it. ios-ntp only needs AyncUdpSocket.

Edit ntp.hosts to add or remove any NTP servers. Make sure it is OK to use them.

Then, simply call:

[NSDate networkDate];

As soon as you call it, the NTP process will begin. If you wish to start it at boot time, so that the time is well synchronized by the time you actually want to use it, just call it in your AppDelegate's didFinishLaunching function.

• Note: The ntp.hosts is currently inside Headers to both bundle it with the framework AND coax Xcode to automatically add it, as it does not add the Resources directory of frameworks.

Building

To build the static framework, build the ios-ntp target from the xcode project. Make sure you build BOTH the iPhone Simulator and iOS Device architectures.