xref: /dragonfly/lib/libc/sys/gettimeofday.2 (revision 65cc0652)
1.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1991, 1993
2.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
3.\"
4.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
5.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
6.\" are met:
7.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
8.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
9.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
10.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
11.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
12.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
13.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
14.\"    without specific prior written permission.
15.\"
16.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
17.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
18.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
19.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
20.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
21.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
22.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
23.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
24.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
25.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
26.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
27.\"
28.\"     @(#)gettimeofday.2	8.2 (Berkeley) 5/26/95
29.\" $FreeBSD: src/lib/libc/sys/gettimeofday.2,v 1.9.2.9 2003/02/11 06:05:00 nsayer Exp $
30.\"
31.Dd March 26, 2016
32.Dt GETTIMEOFDAY 2
33.Os
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm gettimeofday ,
36.Nm settimeofday
37.Nd get/set date and time
38.Sh LIBRARY
39.Lb libc
40.Sh SYNOPSIS
41.In sys/time.h
42.Ft int
43.Fn gettimeofday "struct timeval *tp" "struct timezone *tzp"
44.Ft int
45.Fn settimeofday "const struct timeval *tp" "const struct timezone *tzp"
46.Sh DESCRIPTION
47.Bf -symbolic
48Note: The
49.Fn gettimeofday
50and
51.Fn settimeofday
52functions are obsolescent.
53Applications should use the
54.Fn clock_gettime
55and
56.Fn clock_settime
57functions instead.
58.Ef
59.Pp
60The system's notion of the current Greenwich time and the current time
61zone is obtained with the
62.Fn gettimeofday
63call, and set with the
64.Fn settimeofday
65call.  The time is expressed in seconds and microseconds
66since midnight (0 hour), January 1, 1970.  The resolution of the system
67clock is hardware dependent, and the time may be updated continuously or
68in
69.Dq ticks .
70If
71.Fa tp
72or
73.Fa tzp
74is NULL, the associated time
75information will not be returned or set.
76.Pp
77The structures pointed to by
78.Fa tp
79and
80.Fa tzp
81are defined in
82.In sys/time.h
83as:
84.Bd -literal
85struct timeval {
86	long	tv_sec;		/* seconds since Jan. 1, 1970 */
87	long	tv_usec;	/* and microseconds */
88};
89
90struct timezone {
91	int	tz_minuteswest; /* minutes west of Greenwich */
92	int	tz_dsttime;	/* type of dst correction */
93};
94.Ed
95.Pp
96The
97.Fa timezone
98structure indicates the local time zone
99(measured in minutes of time westward from Greenwich),
100and a flag that, if nonzero, indicates that
101Daylight Saving time applies locally during
102the appropriate part of the year.
103.Pp
104Only the super-user may set the time of day or time zone.
105If the system is running at securelevel \(>= 2 (see
106.Xr init 8 ) ,
107the time may only be advanced or retarded by a maximum of one second.
108This limitation is imposed to prevent a malicious super-user
109from setting arbitrary time stamps on files.
110The system time can be adjusted backwards without restriction using the
111.Xr adjtime 2
112system call even when the system is secure.
113.Sh RETURN VALUES
114.Rv -std
115.Sh ERRORS
116The following error codes may be set in
117.Va errno :
118.Bl -tag -width Er
119.It Bq Er EFAULT
120An argument address referenced invalid memory.
121.It Bq Er EPERM
122A user other than the super-user attempted to set the time.
123.El
124.Sh SEE ALSO
125.Xr date 1 ,
126.Xr adjtime 2 ,
127.Xr ctime 3 ,
128.Xr clocks 7 ,
129.Xr timed 8
130.Sh HISTORY
131The
132.Fn gettimeofday
133function call appeared in
134.Bx 4.2 .
135