I’m excited to announce rkik v2.0.0, a major update to Rusty Klock Inspection Kit, a stateless CLI tool and library for inspecting network time protocols (NTP/NTS) and precision clocks across infrastructure. This release advances the project well beyond its original scope as a simple NTP offset inspector.
What’s new in v2.0.0
Network Time Security (NTS) support - Fully integrated RFC 8915 NTS implementation with diagnostic detail. - --nts flag to enable authentication and encrypted NTS sessions. - Adjustable --nts-port, handshake timing, cookie metrics, negotiated AEAD algorithms, and certificate inspection (subject, issuer, validity, fingerprints). - JSON export of all NTS diagnostic data. NTS works alongside existing features like compare and plugin modes.
Precision Time Protocol (PTP) diagnostics - New --ptp switch for querying IEEE-1588 environments (Linux only). - Handles domain and port controls (--ptp-domain, --ptp-event-port, --ptp-general-port). - Optional hardware timestamping (--ptp-hw-timestamp) and extensive master clock info. - Supports text, structured JSON, compare output, and plugin lines. - Library primitives (PtpProbeResult, PtpQueryOptions, …) for embedding in other tools.
Config & presets management - Persistent configuration via rkik config and workspace presets via rkik preset, stored in ~/.config/rkik/config.toml (override via RKIK_CONFIG_DIR). - Presets let you define reusable probe sets and run them by name.
Test lab & Docker environment - New Docker-based test environment (./scripts/test-env-up.sh) to spin up multiple NTP daemons and a PTP grandmaster locally, enabling consistent QA and CI demos.
CLI redesign and documentation - CLI v2 spec documented in docs/cli_v2.md. New subcommand layout and improved ergonomics.
rkik started as a lightweight way to inspect NTP responses without daemons or root, but with v2.0.0 it becomes a comprehensive diagnostics and observability toolkit for time-related protocols, suitable for SREs, network engineers, and infrastructure operators who need precise insight into clock behavior across distributed systems.
All sources and releases are available on GitHub: https://github.com/aguacero7/rkik