fix: NTP syncs as soon as DHCP has a lease, random origin cookie instead of the unsynced local clock, TLS validates certificates against UTC

kernel/src/Api/BuildNo.hpp

@@ -12,4 +12,4 @@
 
 #pragma once
 
-#define MONTAUK_BUILD_NUMBER 103
+#define MONTAUK_BUILD_NUMBER 107

kernel/src/Api/Syscall.cpp

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 #include "Terminal.hpp"   // SYS_PRINT, SYS_PUTCHAR
 #include "Filesystem.hpp" // SYS_OPEN, SYS_READ, SYS_GETSIZE, SYS_CLOSE, SYS_READDIR, SYS_FWRITE, SYS_FCREATE
 #include "Heap.hpp"       // SYS_ALLOC, SYS_FREE
-#include "Time.hpp"       // SYS_GETTICKS, SYS_GETMILLISECONDS, SYS_GETTIME
+#include "Time.hpp"       // SYS_GETTICKS, SYS_GETMILLISECONDS, SYS_GETTIME, SYS_GETUNIXTIME
 #include "Keyboard.hpp"   // SYS_ISKEYAVAILABLE, SYS_GETKEY, SYS_GETCHAR
 #include "Info.hpp"       // SYS_GETINFO
 #include "Graphics.hpp"   // SYS_FBINFO, SYS_FBMAP, SYS_TERMSIZE, SYS_TERMSCALE
@@ -245,6 +245,8 @@ namespace montauk::abi {
                 if (!UserMemory::Writable<DateTime>(frame->arg1)) return BadPointer;
                 Sys_GetTime((DateTime*)frame->arg1);
                 return Success;
+            case SYS_GETUNIXTIME:
+                return Sys_GetUnixTime();
             case SYS_SETUNIXTIME:
                 if (!Sched::Consent::Require(CAP_SET_TIME)) return CapabilityDenied;
                 return Sys_SetUnixTime((int64_t)frame->arg1);

kernel/src/Api/Syscall.hpp

@@ -405,6 +405,9 @@ namespace montauk::abi {
        and returns 1 while more remains, 0 once done. CAP_STORAGE_ADMIN. */
     static constexpr uint64_t SYS_FS_GROW              = 208;  // (drive, FsGrowStatus*, apply) -> 1 / 0 / status
 
+    /* Time.hpp -- wall clock as UTC unix seconds (SYS_GETTIME is local time). */
+    static constexpr uint64_t SYS_GETUNIXTIME          = 209;  // () -> seconds
+
     /* Kernel-owned process capabilities. User identities may namespace
        per-user resources, but never participate in authorization decisions. */
     static constexpr uint64_t CAP_PROCESS_ADMIN = 1ULL << 0;

kernel/src/Api/Time.hpp

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 /*
     * Time.hpp
-    * SYS_GETTICKS, SYS_GETMILLISECONDS, SYS_GETTIME syscalls
+    * SYS_GETTICKS, SYS_GETMILLISECONDS, SYS_GETTIME, SYS_GETUNIXTIME syscalls
     * Copyright (c) 2026 Daniel Hammer
 */
 
@@ -39,6 +39,10 @@ namespace montauk::abi {
         return (int64_t)Timekeeping::GetTZOffset();
     }
 
+    static int64_t Sys_GetUnixTime() {
+        return Timekeeping::GetUnixTimestamp();
+    }
+
     static int64_t Sys_SetUnixTime(int64_t unixSeconds) {
         return Timekeeping::SetUnixTimestamp(unixSeconds) ? Success : InvalidArgument;
     }

kernel/src/Timekeeping/Time.cpp

@@ -37,7 +37,9 @@ static int64_t DateToEpoch(int year, int month, int day, int hour, int minute, i
 
 static Timekeeping::DateTime EpochToDate(int64_t epoch) {
     Timekeeping::DateTime dt = {};
-    int64_t rem = epoch;
+    /* Before the first NTP sync on a board with no RTC the clock sits near
+       the epoch, and a negative time zone pushes local time before it. */
+    int64_t rem = epoch < 0 ? 0 : epoch;
     int year = 1970;
     while (true) {
         int64_t daysInYear = IsLeapYear(year) ? 366 : 365;

programs/include/Api/Syscall.hpp

@@ -317,6 +317,9 @@ namespace montauk::abi {
        and returns 1 while more remains, 0 once done. CAP_STORAGE_ADMIN. */
     static constexpr uint64_t SYS_FS_GROW              = 208;  // (drive, FsGrowStatus*, apply) -> 1 / 0 / status
 
+    /* Time.hpp -- wall clock as UTC unix seconds (SYS_GETTIME is local time). */
+    static constexpr uint64_t SYS_GETUNIXTIME          = 209;  // () -> seconds
+
     /* Kernel-owned process capabilities. User identities may namespace
        per-user resources, but never participate in authorization decisions. */
     static constexpr uint64_t CAP_PROCESS_ADMIN = 1ULL << 0;

programs/include/libc/montauk.h

@@ -232,6 +232,7 @@ extern "C" {
 #define MTK_SYS_WIN_DRAG_FORMATS    206
 #define MTK_SYS_WIN_DRAG_GET_DATA   207
 #define MTK_SYS_FS_GROW             208
+#define MTK_SYS_GETUNIXTIME         209
 /* @SYSCALLS-END */
 
 /* Syscall status codes (montauk/statuscodes.h for C++). */
@@ -805,6 +806,10 @@ static inline void mtk_gettime(mtk_datetime *out) {
     _mtk_syscall1(MTK_SYS_GETTIME, (long)out);
 }
 
+static inline int64_t mtk_get_unix_time(void) {
+    return (int64_t)_mtk_syscall0(MTK_SYS_GETUNIXTIME);
+}
+
 static inline int mtk_set_unix_time(int64_t unix_seconds) {
     return (int)_mtk_syscall1(MTK_SYS_SETUNIXTIME, (long)unix_seconds);
 }

programs/include/montauk/ntp.h

@@ -51,42 +51,6 @@ inline uint32_t read_be32(const uint8_t* p) {
            ((uint32_t)p[2] << 8) | (uint32_t)p[3];
 }
 
-inline void write_be64(uint8_t* p, uint64_t value) {
-    for (int i = 7; i >= 0; i--) {
-        p[i] = (uint8_t)value;
-        value >>= 8;
-    }
-}
-
-inline bool is_leap_year(int year) {
-    return (year % 4 == 0 && year % 100 != 0) || (year % 400 == 0);
-}
-
-inline int days_in_month(int month, int year) {
-    static const int days[] = {0, 31, 28, 31, 30, 31, 30,
-                               31, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31};
-    return month == 2 && is_leap_year(year) ? 29 : days[month];
-}
-
-inline int64_t current_unix_seconds() {
-    montauk::abi::DateTime now = {};
-    montauk::gettime(&now);
-    if (now.Year < 1970 || now.Month < 1 || now.Month > 12 ||
-        now.Day < 1 || now.Day > days_in_month(now.Month, now.Year))
-        return 0;
-
-    int64_t days = 0;
-    for (int year = 1970; year < (int)now.Year; year++)
-        days += is_leap_year(year) ? 366 : 365;
-    for (int month = 1; month < (int)now.Month; month++)
-        days += days_in_month(month, now.Year);
-    days += now.Day - 1;
-
-    int64_t local = days * 86400 + (int64_t)now.Hour * 3600 +
-                    (int64_t)now.Minute * 60 + now.Second;
-    return local - (int64_t)montauk::gettz() * 60;
-}
-
 inline bool same_bytes(const uint8_t* a, const uint8_t* b, int count) {
     for (int i = 0; i < count; i++) {
         if (a[i] != b[i]) return false;
@@ -115,14 +79,15 @@ inline int synchronize(const char* server, uint32_t timeout_ms = 5000,
     request[2] = 6;    // poll exponent: 2^6 = 64 seconds
     request[3] = 0xEC; // precision: approximately 2^-20 seconds
 
-    int64_t unix_now = current_unix_seconds();
+    // The transmit timestamp only has to come back in the reply's origin
-    if (unix_now <= 0) {
+    // field, so send a random cookie rather
+    // than the local clock, which may still be invalid before the first sync.
+    uint8_t cookie[8];
+    if (montauk::getrandom(cookie, sizeof(cookie)) != (int64_t)sizeof(cookie)) {
         montauk::closesocket(fd);
         return CLOCK_ERROR;
     }
-    uint64_t transmit_timestamp =
+    for (int i = 0; i < 8; i++) request[40 + i] = cookie[i];
-        ((uint64_t)unix_now + UNIX_EPOCH_DELTA) << 32;
-    write_be64(request + 40, transmit_timestamp);
 
     progress(progress_callback, "Sending NTP request...");
     if (montauk::sendto(fd, request, sizeof(request), server_ip, SERVER_PORT) < 0) {

programs/include/montauk/syscall.h

@@ -505,6 +505,8 @@ namespace montauk {
 
     // Timekeeping (wall-clock)
     inline void gettime(montauk::abi::DateTime* out) { syscall1(montauk::abi::SYS_GETTIME, (uint64_t)out); }
+    // UTC seconds since 1970 (gettime() is local time).
+    inline int64_t get_unix_time() { return syscall0(montauk::abi::SYS_GETUNIXTIME); }
     inline int set_unix_time(int64_t unix_seconds) {
         return (int)syscall1(montauk::abi::SYS_SETUNIXTIME, (uint64_t)unix_seconds);
     }

programs/lib/tls/tls.cpp

@@ -196,17 +196,12 @@ void free_trust_anchors(TrustAnchors* tas) {
 }
 
 void get_bearssl_time(uint32_t* days, uint32_t* seconds) {
-    montauk::abi::DateTime dt;
+    // Certificate validity is UTC; BearSSL counts days from 0000-01-01,
-    montauk::gettime(&dt);
+    // and 1970-01-01 is day 719528.
-    int y = dt.Year, m = dt.Month, d = dt.Day;
+    int64_t t = montauk::get_unix_time();
-    uint32_t total = 365u * (uint32_t)y
+    if (t < 0) t = 0;
-        + (uint32_t)((y+3)/4) - (uint32_t)((y+99)/100) + (uint32_t)((y+399)/400);
+    *days = 719528u + (uint32_t)(t / 86400);
-    const int md[] = {0,31,28,31,30,31,30,31,31,30,31,30,31};
+    *seconds = (uint32_t)(t % 86400);
-    for (int mo = 1; mo < m && mo <= 12; mo++) total += md[mo];
-    if (y%4==0 && (y%100!=0 || y%400==0) && m > 2) total++;
-    total += d - 1;
-    *days = total;
-    *seconds = (uint32_t)(dt.Hour*3600 + dt.Minute*60 + dt.Second);
 }
 
 int tls_send_all(int fd, const unsigned char* data, size_t len) {

programs/src/ntp/main.cpp

@@ -33,6 +33,12 @@ static bool load_settings(char* server, int server_cap) {
     return enabled;
 }
 
+static bool reached_server(int result) {
+    return result == montauk::ntp::TIMEOUT ||
+           result == montauk::ntp::INVALID_REPLY ||
+           result == montauk::ntp::SERVER_REFUSED;
+}
+
 extern "C" void _start() {
     log("service started");
 
@@ -68,16 +74,21 @@ extern "C" void _start() {
 
         montauk::abi::NetCfg net = {};
         montauk::get_netcfg(&net);
+        // No lease yet (DHCP may still be waiting for link): keep polling
+        // instead of backing off, so the first sync lands right after DHCP.
         if (net.ipAddress == 0 || net.dnsServer == 0) {
-            next_attempt = now + RETRY_INTERVAL_MS;
             montauk::sleep_ms(CONFIG_POLL_MS);
             continue;
         }
 
         int result = montauk::ntp::synchronize(server);
         log(montauk::ntp::result_string(result));
-        next_attempt = montauk::get_milliseconds() +
+        // The server rate limit only applies once a request reached it;
-            (result == montauk::ntp::OK ? SYNC_INTERVAL_MS : RETRY_INTERVAL_MS);
+        // failures before sending (DNS, socket) retry at the poll interval.
+        uint64_t delay = SYNC_INTERVAL_MS;
+        if (result != montauk::ntp::OK)
+            delay = reached_server(result) ? RETRY_INTERVAL_MS : CONFIG_POLL_MS;
+        next_attempt = montauk::get_milliseconds() + delay;
         montauk::sleep_ms(CONFIG_POLL_MS);
     }
 }