VMware 6.5 /etc/init.d/ntpd: it would be nice if it would log any errors when starting (for instance why it quits early using `return 1`)

ntpd.sh

#!/bin/sh
#
# Copyright 2007 VMware, Inc.  All rights reserved.
#
# ntpd:
#   Start and stop the NTP daemon
#
# chkconfig: - 10 90
# description: Network Time Protocol (NTP) daemon.
#

SNTP="/sbin/sntp"
NTPD="/sbin/ntpd"
NTPD_CONFIG="/etc/ntp.conf"
NTPD_OPTS="-g -n -c ${NTPD_CONFIG} -f /etc/ntp.drift"
NTPD_RP="ntpd"
NTPD_TAG="ntpd"

export PATH=/bin:/sbin

#
# Sanity check
#
[ -x "${NTPD}" -a -f "${NTPD_CONFIG}" ] || exit 0

#
# Log action
#
ntpd_log() {
   echo "${1}"
   logger ntpd "${1}"
}

#
# Start ntpd
#
ntpd_start() {
   ntp_servers=`awk '
             /^server[ \t]*127.127/ {next}
             /^(server|peer)/       {
                if ($2 ~/^-/)       {printf "%s " $3}
                else                {printf "%s " $2}}
             ' < ${NTPD_CONFIG}`

   if [ -n "$(pidof -xs "${NTPD}")" ] ; then
      return 1
   fi

   # if the service is configured, start it
   if [ -n "$ntp_servers" ]; then
      ntpd_log "Starting ntpd"
      "${SNTP}" ++memreliable,group=${NTPD_RP} -K /dev/null -S $ntp_servers >/dev/null 2>&1
      /sbin/watchdog.sh ++memreliable,group=${NTPD_RP} -d -t 100 -s "${NTPD_TAG}" "${NTPD}" ${NTPD_OPTS}  >/dev/null 2>&1
   else
      return 1
   fi
}

#
# Stop ntpd
#
ntpd_stop() {
   if [ -n "$(pidof -xs ${NTPD})" ] ; then
      ntpd_log "Stopping ntpd"

      # This only stops the watchdog process.
      /sbin/watchdog.sh -k "${NTPD_TAG}"

      if [ -n "$(pidof -xs "${NTPD}")" ]; then
         pkill -HUP "${NTPD}"

         while [ -n "$(pidof -xs ${NTPD})" ] ; do
            pkill -HUP "${NTPD}"
            sleep 1
         done
      fi
   else
      return 0
   fi
}

#
# Process comand line options
#
case "${1}" in
   start)
      ntpd_start
      retCode=$?
      if [ $retCode -eq 0 ] ; then
         # wait for ntpd to start (for a max of 5 seconds)
         sleepCount=0
         while [ -z "$(pidof -xs "${NTPD}")" ] && [ $sleepCount -lt 5 ] ; do
            sleep 1
            let "sleepCount+=1"
         done
      fi
      exit $retCode
   ;;

   stop)
      ntpd_stop
   ;;

   status)
      if [ -n "$(pidof -xs "${NTPD}")" ] ; then
         echo "ntpd is running"
         exit 0
      else
         echo "ntpd is not running"
         exit 3
      fi
   ;;

   restart)
      ntpd_stop

      ntpd_start
   ;;

   *)
      echo "Usage: $(basename "$0") {start|stop|status|restart}"
      exit 1
   ;;
esac