Add chrony NTP synchronization test (New)

[JasonLeonnn]

Description

The previous networking/ntp test depends on ntpdate which was deprecated in Ubuntu 15.10 and replaced by systemd-timesyncd. Starting with Ubuntu 25.10, chrony has replaced systemd-timesyncd.
Because of this, a new test case for NTP synchronization with chrony.

Resolved issues

• Created a new chrony-based script, implement one hour skew, sync using configured NTP sources, and verify.
• Updated networking and dock jobs

Documentation

N/A

Tests

networking/ntp-chrony runs on version 25.10 and later versions, falls back to networking/ntp on earlier versions.
Result on 26.04
Result on 24.04

WARNING: This modifies com.canonical.certification::sru-server

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 61.34%. Comparing base (b1a785f) to head (2b91703).
⚠️ Report is 6 commits behind head on main.

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##             main    #2811      +/-   ##
==========================================
+ Coverage   61.29%   61.34%   +0.04%     
==========================================
  Files         498      499       +1     
  Lines       50275    50338      +63     
  Branches     8834     8838       +4     
==========================================
+ Hits        30817    30880      +63     
  Misses      18616    18616              
  Partials      842      842              

Flag	Coverage Δ
provider-base	39.85% <100.00%> (+0.21%)	⬆️
provider-certification-client	57.14% <ø> (ø)

Flags with carried forward coverage won't be shown. Click here to find out more.

☔ View full report in Codecov by Harness.
📢 Have feedback on the report? Share it here.

🚀 New features to boost your workflow:

• ❄️ Test Analytics: Detect flaky tests, report on failures, and find test suite problems.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Adds a chrony-based replacement for the existing NTP synchronization test in the base provider, updating job definitions so the networking/ntp coverage can work on Ubuntu releases where chrony has replaced systemd-timesyncd.

Changes:

• Replace networking/ntp job command to use a new network_ntp_chrony_test.py chrony-driven implementation.
• Update networking + dock job requirements to require the chrony package.
• Adjust packaging metadata to add chrony as the Ubuntu dependency for networking tests (currently only for >= 25.10).

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

File	Description
providers/base/units/networking/packaging.pxu	Switch Ubuntu packaging dependency from ntpdate/ntpsec-ntpdate to chrony for >= 25.10.
providers/base/units/networking/jobs.pxu	Update networking/ntp job to require chrony and run the new chrony-based script.
providers/base/units/dock/jobs.pxu	Update dock NTP jobs to require chrony and run the new chrony-based script.
providers/base/bin/network_ntp_chrony_test.py	New chrony-driven implementation that skews time by 1 hour, resyncs via configured sources, and verifies recovery.

Suppressed comments (1)

providers/base/units/dock/jobs.pxu:2686

• This dock NTP job still declares estimated_duration: 10s, but the new chrony script’s default --timeout is 60s (and can legitimately take close to that). The estimate should be updated to avoid misleading scheduling/UX for long-running tests.

    package.name == 'chrony'
user: root
command: network_ntp_chrony_test.py
estimated_duration: 10.00

---

💡 Add a code-review agent skill or configure MCP servers for context-aware, tailored reviews. Learn more in the docs.

[clairlin53]

@JasonLeonnn Please provide the submission test result

[tomli380576]

sry just 1 more small comment

[baconYao]

1. I understand that there may be a reason why networking/ntp and after-suspend-networking/ntp are excluded from the Ubuntu Core 26 test plan, but I don’t think that alone is sufficient justification for excluding networking/ntp-chrony as well.

2. What I’d like to clarify is whether the current Ubuntu Core 26 environment has also deprecated systemd-timesyncd and switched to chrony, as described in your issue. If so, I think this test case would also be applicable to the Core 26 environment, and the requirements would need to be updated accordingly. If not, we need to understand why UC26 is still using systemd-timesyncd.

[JasonLeonnn]

UC26 has not switched to chrony and still uses systemd-timesyncd by default. Ubuntu Core Docs.

• systemd-timesyncd is integrated directly into systemd within immutable base snap and operates strictly as a lightweight SNTP client, avoiding the need for a separate daemon like chrony.
• System time process is tightly coupled to the boots process.

Since the Core and Classic are assembled differently and require different approaches, the chrony job is appropriate for Classic, but not for Core environment.

If the NTP test coverage is required for Ubuntu Core in the future, I think creating a separate Core-specific job and script using systemd-timesyncd would be the better approach.