Can I copy the ntpdate binary from another machine in order to update date & time?

Question

On my Red Hat 5.3 Linux machine, NTP isn’t installed (can't install it for some reasons). However I can copy the binary /usr/sbin/ntpdate from another Linux machine to mine.

If I only get the file ntpdate and put it on my Linux machine under /tmp, is it possible to run

/tmp/ntpdate -u 109.23.4.5

in order to update my date?

109.23.4.5 would be my Linux machine.

Answer 1

First it depends if the machine architecture and library versions are compatible with your ntpdate version. Then you have to check if /tmp is not mounted with noexec flag (however there is workaround for that) and finally you have to be a root to use ntpdate. But just try it. It is very hard to tell is it working or not based on this information.