Date:        Mon, 22 Oct 2001 14:44:30 +0200
    From:        Piotr Stolc <socrtp@sedez.iq.pl>
    Message-ID:  <20011022144430.A18663@sedez.iq.pl>

  | I add "&" character at the end of the line with ntpdate command, so it runs
  | in the background and do not lock the machine when the network is down.

That's probably not safe if you're running ntpd (the two running at once
doesn't work real well), and not real good even without that - ntpdate can
cause the date to jump around, apps that have already started and think they
know what the time is can get confused by that.

If you're sitting watching the boot, and ntpdate hangs because the servers
don't answer, then just ^C it, and continue.

If you're not watching it boot, then the time spent hanging probably isn't
going to matter all that much (especially given you can trim the delay if
you need to).

If this is a problem that occurs real frequently, consider using newbtconf
and making an ntp free config that you can boot instead of the standard one
when ntp isn't going to work.

kre