BitcoinTalk

Warning : Check your system clock (help me)

BitcoinTalk
#3
From:
satoshi
Subject:
Re: Warning : Check your system ( Help me )
Date:
Any suggestions for better text to put for this error message so the next person will be less likely to be confused?

It's trying to tell them their clock is wrong and they need to correct it.

It's relying on 3 time sources:
1) the system clock
2) the other nodes, if within an hour of the system clock
if those disagree, then
3) the user (asking the user to fix the system clock)

I've thought about NTP, but this is more secure.
BitcoinTalk
#9
From:
satoshi
Subject:
Re: Warning : Check your system ( Help me )
Date:
Any suggestions for better text to put for this error message so the next person will be less likely to be confused?
"Please check that your computer's date and time are correct. If your clock is wrong Bitcoin will not work properly."
Thanks.
BitcoinTalk
#14
From:
satoshi
Subject:
Re: Warning : Check your system ( Help me )
Date:
I don't understand, are you under the impression that the program sets the system clock?  It doesn't.

We already have ways to synchronize (approximately) the clients, so why not make use of that?
We use an internal offset based on the median of other nodes' times, but for security reasons we don't let them offset us by more than an hour.  If they indicate we're off by more than an hour, then we resort to alerting the user to fix their clock.