Starting with NetBSD-1.6, it is possible to delegate the system clock control to a non root user. This enable running ntpd in a chroot jail under a non privilegied UID/GID, using ntpd -i and -u flags. The delegation is done through the clockctl(4) pseudodevice driver. This driver makes privilegied system calls such as ntp_adjtime(2) available through ioctl(2) on the /dev/clockctl device. If a user is able to write to /dev/clockctl, then (s)he can control the system clock. In order to use this feature, make sure that: 1) Your kernel is compiled with the following option: pseudo-device clockctl This is true for GENERIC kernels on most ports. Please check http://wwW.netbsd.org/Documentation/kernel/ if you need information about building a kernel. 2) You have a ntpd user on your system. Here is the /etc/master.passwd entry for ntpd user on NetBSD-1.6: ntpd:*:15:15::0:0:& pseudo-user:/var/chroot/ntpd:/sbin/nologin And here is the /etc/group entry for group 15: ntpd:*:15: 3) /dev/clockctl exists and is writtable by user ntpd. Default NetBSD-1.6 setting is: crw-rw---- 1 root ntpd 61, 0 Apr 1 2002 /dev/clockctl Major device number and date is likely to be different on your system. If you need to create the device, issue the following command: cd /dev && ./MAKEDEV clockctl Here is an example of how to run ntpd chrooted in /var/chroot/ntpd, running with ntpd UID and ntpd GID: ntpd -i /var/chroot/ntpd -u ntpd:ntpd Note that -i and -u options are enabled at configure time if your system supports system clock control by an unprivilegied user. If this is not the case, then the -i and -u options will not be available.