starting chronyd OK running chronyc dfreq 1e-3 OK checking chronyc output OK DATE 1 1585758870 running chronyc doffset -30.0 OK DATE 2 1585758870 checking chronyc output OK DATE 3 1585758870 running chronyc makestep OK DATE 4 1585758870 checking chronyc output OK DATE 5 1585758870 DATE S1 1585758870 DATE SET Wed Apr 1 16:34:35 UTC 2020 DATE S2 1585758870 DEBUG before 1585758870 DEBUG after 1585758870 DEBUG S1: * chrony.service - chrony, an NTP client/server Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/chrony.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled) Active: active (running) since Wed 2020-04-01 16:34:25 UTC; 4s ago Docs: man:chronyd(8) man:chronyc(1) man:chrony.conf(5) Main PID: 5499 (chronyd) Tasks: 2 (limit: 1660) Memory: 5.9M CGroup: /system.slice/chrony.service |-5499 /usr/sbin/chronyd -F -1 `-5500 /usr/sbin/chronyd -F -1 Apr 01 16:34:25 autopkgtest systemd[1]: Starting chrony, an NTP client/server... Apr 01 16:34:25 autopkgtest chronyd[5499]: chronyd version 3.5 starting (+CMDMON +NTP +REFCLOCK +RTC +PRIVDROP +SCFILTER +SIGND +ASYNCDNS +SECHASH +IPV6 -DEBUG) Apr 01 16:34:25 autopkgtest chronyd[5499]: Loaded seccomp filter Apr 01 16:34:25 autopkgtest systemd[1]: Started chrony, an NTP client/server. DEBUG S2: * systemd-timesyncd.service - Network Time Synchronization Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/systemd-timesyncd.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled) Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-timesyncd.service.d `-disable-with-time-daemon.conf Active: active (running) since Wed 2020-04-01 16:33:44 UTC; 45s ago Docs: man:systemd-timesyncd.service(8) Main PID: 602 (systemd-timesyn) Status: "Initial synchronization to time server 91.189.91.157:123 (ntp.ubuntu.com)." Tasks: 2 (limit: 1660) Memory: 8.0M CGroup: /system.slice/systemd-timesyncd.service `-602 /lib/systemd/systemd-timesyncd Apr 01 16:33:43 autopkgtest systemd[1]: Starting Network Time Synchronization... Apr 01 16:33:44 autopkgtest systemd[1]: Started Network Time Synchronization. Apr 01 16:33:45 autopkgtest systemd-timesyncd[602]: Initial synchronization to time server 91.189.91.157:123 (ntp.ubuntu.com). DEBUG O1: DEBUG O2: DEBUG P1: 0 0 6057 6055 20 0 5056 1792 pipe_w S ? 0:00 \_ grep chronyd 5 111 5499 1 20 0 15104 4160 do_sel S ? 0:00 /usr/sbin/chronyd -F -1 1 111 5500 5499 20 0 7104 4224 skb_wa S ? 0:00 \_ /usr/sbin/chronyd -F -1 5 0 6028 1 20 0 6656 4160 do_sel S ? 0:00 ../../chronyd -l /tmp/autopkgtest.ChF59G/build.rot/src/test/system/tmp/chronyd.log -f /tmp/autopkgtest.ChF59G/build.rot/src/test/system/tmp/chronyd.conf -u root checking system clock BAD That means systemd-timesyncd + chronyd from the package fight with the test's chrony. This needs to be fixed in the test setup (and understood how it happened to have both runnng).