Please donate to keep Network Time Protocol up – Goal 1k

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

What the Donation Is (and Isn’t) For

  • Many commenters initially assumed donations were needed to “keep NTP running” or keep the public NTP pool online.
  • Others point out the page itself says funds are for maintaining the ntp.org website and supporting NTP developers, not the global time service.
  • Clarification: the NTP Pool (pool.ntp.org) is a separate, largely volunteer-run project that just uses the ntp.org domain.

Misleading Title and Moving Goalposts

  • The HN submission title (“keep Network Time Protocol up”) is widely criticized as inaccurate and responsible for much outrage.
  • The submitter later apologizes, saying they misunderstood.
  • Suspicion arises because the fundraising goal visibly changes (e.g., $1k → $4k → $8k → $11k) as amounts are reached, and the progress bar updates slowly or appears manually edited. Some see this as deceptive; others call it just clumsy or awareness‑driven.

How Critical Is NTPd / Network Time Foundation?

  • Several argue NTP (time sync) is critical infrastructure; others reply that this particular implementation/organization is not.
  • Multiple comments stress that most big companies and many Linux distros don’t use the classic ntpd: they use chrony, systemd-timesyncd, ntpsec, or in‑house systems (e.g., with leap-smearing).
  • Detailed critique says:
    • The IETF has maintained the NTP spec for ~20 years via an NTP WG.
    • Network Time Foundation’s ntpd hasn’t implemented newer security (NTS) and resists IETF direction on NTPv5 algorithms.
    • This has pushed others toward alternatives like PTP and new implementations (e.g., ntpd‑rs, ntpsec).

Who Should Pay?

  • Strong emotional thread: trillion‑dollar companies rely on accurate time yet don’t obviously fund this; some insist they should, not individual engineers.
  • Counterpoint: those companies already run their own NTP infrastructures and public pools and do not depend on this foundation or its code, so “let it fail to hurt FAANG” is seen as misinformed.
  • Ideas: dedicated endowments for critical FOSS infrastructure, corporate sponsor pages on ntp.org, or funding via large foundations.

Donations, Payments, and Alternatives

  • Several users report being blocked by anti‑bot checks when trying to donate; others explain this is to prevent stolen-card “card testing” and chargeback risk.
  • Some suggest cryptocurrency as a workaround.
  • Alternatives proposed: contribute NTP servers to the pool, run GPS-backed stratum‑1 locally, or donate instead to IETF, ntpsec, or other time projects.
  • A FLOSS fund representative notes a pending $60k grant to NTP, delayed by cross-border regulatory paperwork.