time() does not work without active NTP server

[av1024]

Basic Infos

Hardware

Hardware: ESP-12E
Core Version: 2.1.0-rc2

Description

"Internal" time.c functions always return 0 /1970-01-01/ if not synced via NTP.

I want to initialize internal clock via constant or from RTC for log timestamping (so I don't need precise time on startup, but valid measured intervals)

Settings in IDE

Module: Generic ESP8266 Module
Flash Size: 4MB
CPU Frequency: 80Mhz
Flash Mode: qio
Flash Frequency: 80Mhz
Upload Using: SERIAL
Reset Method: ck

Sketch

#include <Arduino.h>
#include <time.h>

void setup() {
 // WiFi.begin(); // wifi disabled for example
 // configTime(3*3600, 0, "not.avail.ntp"); 
 Serial.begin(115200);
}

void loop() {
  time_t now = time(nullptr);
 Serial.println(ctime(&now));
 delay(1000);
}

Debug Messages

Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970

Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970

...

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[everslick]

I use this workaround for now:

static uint32_t starttime = millis() / 1000;
static uint32_t localtime = starttime;

void time_set(uint32_t time) {
  starttime = millis() / 1000;
  localtime = time;
}

uint32_t time_get(void) {
  return (millis() / 1000 - starttime + localtime);
} 

[miky2k]

I m looking for full software rtc in core libraries too.

[av1024]

Thanks, @everslick!
I have my implementations RTC and/or NTP sync from my "raw C" projects on AVR, but I want to use "embedded" code because it already exists.

@far5893 There is widely known Time library from arduino.cc, but it is not compiled with 2.1.0-rc2 for me. And of course, this is not core lib

@igrr Please take attention to string handling in sntp_xxx code. I have got exception 28 (or sometimes 9) with sntp_asctime[_r] and sntp_sync_xxx approx after 22-24 hours uptime. there is only ctime(&now) calls in my code. One of saved traces:

Decoding 17 resultsException code: 28: LoadProhibited: A load referenced a page mapped with an attribute that does not permit loads
0x402265f9: sntp_asctime_r at ??:?
0x402265f9: sntp_asctime_r at ??:?
0x4020d6cc: TwoWire::requestFrom(unsigned char, unsigned int, bool) at /home/av/.arduino15/packages/esp8266/hardware/esp8266/2.1.0-rc2/libraries/Wire/Wire.cpp:240
0x40226647: sntp_asctime at ??:?
0x4020d6f8: TwoWire::requestFrom(unsigned char, unsigned char) at /home/av/.arduino15/packages/esp8266/hardware/esp8266/2.1.0-rc2/libraries/Wire/Wire.cpp:240
0x40201b44: asctime at /home/av/.arduino15/packages/esp8266/hardware/esp8266/2.1.0-rc2/cores/esp8266/time.c:110
0x4020df5e: Adafruit_BMP280::read24(unsigned char) at /home/av/Arduino/libraries/Adafruit_BMP280_Library/Adafruit_BMP280.cpp:210
0x40209742: check_float(float, float, float&) at /home/av/bin/arduino-1.6.5/WebConfig.ino:311
0x4020986e: readSensors() at /home/av/bin/arduino-1.6.5/WebConfig.ino:311
0x40105c2e: ets_timer_setfn at ??:?
0x4020a534: ESP8266WiFiSTAClass::status() at /home/av/.arduino15/packages/esp8266/hardware/esp8266/2.1.0-rc2/libraries/ESP8266WiFi/src/ESP8266WiFiSTA.cpp:635
0x4020ad5c: WiFiClient::operator=(WiFiClient const&) at /home/av/.arduino15/packages/esp8266/hardware/esp8266/2.1.0-rc2/libraries/ESP8266WiFi/src/WiFiClient.cpp:362
0x40209e08: every_s() at /home/av/bin/arduino-1.6.5/WebConfig.ino:311
0x40209eb8: handle_ms() at /home/av/bin/arduino-1.6.5/WebConfig.ino:323
0x40209ef3: loop at /home/av/bin/arduino-1.6.5/WebConfig.ino:337
0x4020f6f8: loop_wrapper at /home/av/.arduino15/packages/esp8266/hardware/esp8266/2.1.0-rc2/cores/esp8266/core_esp8266_main.cpp:43
0x40100114: cont_norm at /home/av/.arduino15/packages/esp8266/hardware/esp8266/2.1.0-rc2/cores/esp8266/cont.S:109

[igrr]

sntp_xxx functions come from espressif SDK, as far as I can tell.

On Sun, Feb 28, 2016, 13:04 Alexander Voronin notifications@github.com
wrote:

Thanks, @everslick https://github.com/everslick!
I have my implementations RTC and/or NTP sync from my "raw C" projects on
AVR, but I want to use "embedded" code because it already exists.

@far5893 https://github.com/far5893 There is widely known Time library
from arduino.cc, but it is not compiled with 2.1.0-rc2 for me. And of
course, this is not core lib

@igrr https://github.com/igrr Please take attention to string handling
in sntp_xxx code. I have got exception 28 (or sometimes 9) with
sntp_asctime[_r] and sntp_sync_xxx approx after 22-24 hours uptime. there
is only ctime(&now) calls in my code. One of saved traces:

Decoding 17 resultsException code: 28: LoadProhibited: A load referenced a page mapped with an attribute that does not permit loads
0x402265f9: sntp_asctime_r at ??:?
0x402265f9: sntp_asctime_r at ??:?
0x4020d6cc: TwoWire::requestFrom(unsigned char, unsigned int, bool) at /home/av/.arduino15/packages/esp8266/hardware/esp8266/2.1.0-rc2/libraries/Wire/Wire.cpp:240
0x40226647: sntp_asctime at ??:?
0x4020d6f8: TwoWire::requestFrom(unsigned char, unsigned char) at /home/av/.arduino15/packages/esp8266/hardware/esp8266/2.1.0-rc2/libraries/Wire/Wire.cpp:240
0x40201b44: asctime at /home/av/.arduino15/packages/esp8266/hardware/esp8266/2.1.0-rc2/cores/esp8266/time.c:110
0x4020df5e: Adafruit_BMP280::read24(unsigned char) at /home/av/Arduino/libraries/Adafruit_BMP280_Library/Adafruit_BMP280.cpp:210
0x40209742: check_float(float, float, float&) at /home/av/bin/arduino-1.6.5/WebConfig.ino:311
0x4020986e: readSensors() at /home/av/bin/arduino-1.6.5/WebConfig.ino:311
0x40105c2e: ets_timer_setfn at ??:?
0x4020a534: ESP8266WiFiSTAClass::status() at /home/av/.arduino15/packages/esp8266/hardware/esp8266/2.1.0-rc2/libraries/ESP8266WiFi/src/ESP8266WiFiSTA.cpp:635
0x4020ad5c: WiFiClient::operator=(WiFiClient const&) at /home/av/.arduino15/packages/esp8266/hardware/esp8266/2.1.0-rc2/libraries/ESP8266WiFi/src/WiFiClient.cpp:362
0x40209e08: every_s() at /home/av/bin/arduino-1.6.5/WebConfig.ino:311
0x40209eb8: handle_ms() at /home/av/bin/arduino-1.6.5/WebConfig.ino:323
0x40209ef3: loop at /home/av/bin/arduino-1.6.5/WebConfig.ino:337
0x4020f6f8: loop_wrapper at /home/av/.arduino15/packages/esp8266/hardware/esp8266/2.1.0-rc2/cores/esp8266/core_esp8266_main.cpp:43
0x40100114: cont_norm at /home/av/.arduino15/packages/esp8266/hardware/esp8266/2.1.0-rc2/cores/esp8266/cont.S:109

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#1679 (comment).

[av1024]

@igrr Huh :( May be some try/catch over sntp_xxx in esp8266/time.c ? But I'm not sure this may help

[Juppit]

Maybe you will have a look at this library:
https://github.com/Juppit/esp8266-SNTPClock

It was developed from a version with ticker library without network
access. Therefore uncommenting the network stuff it should still give
you time functions.

Am 28.02.2016 um 11:30 schrieb Alexander Voronin:

@igrr https://github.com/igrr Huh :( May be some try/catch over
sntp_xxx in esp8266/time.c ? But I'm not sure this may help

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#1679 (comment).

[Juppit]

Wrong thread, I guess.
There was someone looking for time finctions without network.

[av1024]

@Juppit Your version have same issue as this - system snmp_xxx functions does not provide correct time if no ntp sync was made prior. Another bug is in SNTPClock::begin - while(!m_secsSince1900) loop never ends if no network/success ntp sync made

[igrr]

These are not c++ exceptions, these are CPU exceptions, so try/catch won't help here. Do you have a test case which is failing? I'd rather try to reproduce it and report to Espressif.

[av1024]

@igrr I don't know how to reproduce it a bit stable. I'll try write minimal code only for timesync/print just now, but I have no idea how to speed up testing - 20+ hours before exception.. may be wifi connection issue while sync, may be some string formatting...

[igrr]

20 hours is not that bad, I can probably hook it up to gdb and let it run
until it crashes.

On Sun, Feb 28, 2016, 14:50 Alexander Voronin notifications@github.com
wrote:

@igrr https://github.com/igrr I don't know how to reproduce it a bit
stable. I'll try write minimal code only for timesync/print just now, but I
have no idea how to speed up testing - 20+ hours before exception.. may be
wifi connection issue while sync, may be some string formatting...

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub
#1679 (comment).

[kaeferfreund]

hey, if I got this right you are looking for some RTC capabilities. I have used the "TimeLib.h" for that. To initialize the time, I send a head request to a google server. I sync it every night and it's running since 2 weeks now...