Which command shows NTP status and clock source?

• A. date
• B. chronyc tracking
• C. timedatectl
• D. ntpstat

Answer: (C)

Timekeeping on Linux is about whether the system clock is being kept accurate by a time source and whether that source is actively driving the clock. timedatectl is the tool built into systemd that reports the current time configuration in one place. It tells you if the system clock is synchronized and whether the NTP service is active, giving you a quick read on the active time source without needing to dive into daemon-specific details. In practice, you’ll see lines indicating the clock synchronization status and the NTP service status, which directly answers whether NTP is in use and the clock is in sync.

Other commands either show only the current time (date) or provide details specific to a particular NTP daemon (ntpstat for basic sync status, chronyc tracking for chrony-specific tracking information). But timedatectl consolidates the NTP status and the source state under one unified view, making it the best single command for this purpose.