ntp package should not install a drift file

Binary package hint: ntp

The drift file (in Ubuntu its default location is /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift) contains ntpd's estimate of the system's drift relative to UTC, expressed in ppm. This file is generated by ntpd, and its purpose is to speed up convergence following restart.

Ubuntu's ntp package installs a drift file containing 0.000, i.e. a zero drift. The effect is that when ntpd is first started following installation of the ntp package, it will assume that zero ppm is a good estimate of the drift of the system clock.

This is not correct. If no reliable estimate of the drift is known (as is the case when ntp is first installed), the drift file should simply be absent, so that ntpd knows that characterisation of the system's drift has not yet happened. The current approach causes ntpd's startup behaviour to be significantly worse than it needs to be.

Please therefore simply refrain from installing a drift file. If one already exists I recommend that the ntp installer should leave it alone, except perhaps for making sure that it has the correct permissions and ownership.