[X4U] How often is time set?

[Craig A. Finseth]

	...
   if you've checked the "Set Date & Time Automatically: [Apple 
   Americas/U.S. (time.apple.com)," how often is the time check and/or how 
   often is that computer's clock corrected?
	...

AFAIK, they use NTP (Network Time Protocol: see
http://www.rfc-editor.org for details).

The standard NTP client varies its query intervals over time.  That
said, the steady state is something like hourly, although missing a
few updates is not a big deal (most clocks are pretty good).

The details of how it adjusts for differences are complex, too.  If
the computer's clock is behind real time, it _could_ set the clock
ahead in one jump.  Normally, it does something more like adjust it by
one second per minute.  (Details vary, but this gives you the idea.)

If the computer's clock is ahead of real time, it's trickier.  Unix
doesn't take to well to having its clock set backwards.  So, the
client adjusts the clock update increments to progress forward in time
more slowly than actual time.

Short answer: don't worry about it.

Long answer: read the RFCs and the code to the client, they cover all
this in great detail.

Craig