diff --git a/recipes-bsp/ntp/files/ntpdate-cron b/recipes-bsp/ntp/files/ntpdate-cron
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f8e3e51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/recipes-bsp/ntp/files/ntpdate-cron
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# script installed as cronjob for handling
+# machines which have not ntp or systemd-timessyncd installed
+#
+# (C) 2015 by sysmocom - s.f.m.c. GmbH
+# Author: Henning Heinold
+
+RUN_NTPDATE=1
+
+# check for systemd otherwise assume sysvinit with ps
+
+systemctl > /dev/null 2>&1
+
+if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
+    systemctl status ntpd > /dev/null 2>&1 || systemctl status systemd-timesyncd > /dev/null 2>&1
+else
+    PS="ps"
+    ps -ef > /dev/null 2>&1
+    if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
+       PS="ps -ef"
+    fi
+
+    # poor man search for a running ntpd
+    # under sysvinit we have no systemd-timesyncd
+    $PS | grep -v grep | grep "ntpd " > /dev/null 2>&1
+fi
+
+RUN_NTPDATE=$?
+
+# the commands must fail to run ntpdate
+if [ ${RUN_NTPDATE} -ne 0 ]; then
+    __bindir__/ntpdate-sync silent
+fi
diff --git a/recipes-bsp/ntp/files/ntpdate.cron b/recipes-bsp/ntp/files/ntpdate.cron
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5bd9179
--- /dev/null
+++ b/recipes-bsp/ntp/files/ntpdate.cron
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+*/30 * * * * root __bindir__/ntpdate-cron
diff --git a/recipes-bsp/ntp/ntp_4.2.8p1.bb b/recipes-bsp/ntp/ntp_4.2.8p1.bb
index f672097..61a8344 100644
--- a/recipes-bsp/ntp/ntp_4.2.8p1.bb
+++ b/recipes-bsp/ntp/ntp_4.2.8p1.bb
@@ -21,9 +21,11 @@ SRC_URI = "http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~ntp/ntp_spool/ntp4/ntp-4.2/ntp-${PV}.tar.g
            file://sntp.service \
            file://sntp \
            file://ntpd.list \
+           file://ntpdate-cron \
+           file://ntpdate.cron \
 "
 
-PR = "r7"
+PR = "r8"
 
 SRC_URI[md5sum] = "65d8cdfae4722226fbe29863477641ed"
 SRC_URI[sha256sum] = "948274b88f1ed002d867ced6aaefdfd0999668b11285ac2b3a67ff2629d59d88"
@@ -64,6 +66,8 @@ do_install_append() {
     install -m 755 ${WORKDIR}/ntpd ${D}${sysconfdir}/init.d
     install -d ${D}${bindir}
     install -m 755 ${WORKDIR}/ntpdate ${D}${bindir}/ntpdate-sync
+    install -m 755 ${WORKDIR}/ntpdate-cron ${D}${bindir}/ntpdate-cron
+    install -D -m 0644 ${WORKDIR}/ntpdate.cron ${D}${sysconfdir}/cron.d/ntpdate
 
     install -m 755 -d ${D}${NTP_USER_HOME}
     chown ntp:ntp ${D}${NTP_USER_HOME}
@@ -74,6 +78,8 @@ do_install_append() {
     sed -i 's!/etc/!${sysconfdir}/!g' ${D}${sysconfdir}/init.d/ntpd ${D}${bindir}/ntpdate-sync
     sed -i 's!/var/!${localstatedir}/!g' ${D}${sysconfdir}/init.d/ntpd ${D}${bindir}/ntpdate-sync
     sed -i 's!^PATH=.*!PATH=${base_sbindir}:${base_bindir}:${sbindir}:${bindir}!' ${D}${bindir}/ntpdate-sync
+    sed -i 's!__bindir__!${bindir}!g' ${D}${bindir}/ntpdate-cron
+    sed -i 's!__bindir__!${bindir}!g' ${D}${sysconfdir}/cron.d/ntpdate
     sed -i '1s,#!.*perl -w,#! ${bindir}/env perl,' ${D}${sbindir}/ntptrace
     sed -i '/use/i use warnings;' ${D}${sbindir}/ntptrace
     sed -i '1s,#!.*perl,#! ${bindir}/env perl,' ${D}${sbindir}/ntp-wait
@@ -136,6 +142,8 @@ FILES_ntpdate = "${sbindir}/ntpdate \
     ${bindir}/ntpdate-sync \
     ${sysconfdir}/default/ntpdate \
     ${systemd_unitdir}/system/ntpdate.service \
+    ${bindir}/ntpdate-cron \
+    ${sysconfdir}/cron.d/ntpdate \
 "
 FILES_sntp = "${sbindir}/sntp \
               ${sysconfdir}/default/sntp \
@@ -143,17 +151,21 @@ FILES_sntp = "${sbindir}/sntp \
              "
 
 CONFFILES_${PN} = "${sysconfdir}/ntp.conf"
-CONFFILES_ntpdate = "${sysconfdir}/default/ntpdate"
+CONFFILES_ntpdate = "${sysconfdir}/default/ntpdate ${sysconfdir}/cron.d/ntpdate"
 
 INITSCRIPT_NAME = "ntpd"
 # No dependencies, so just go in at the standard level (20)
 INITSCRIPT_PARAMS = "defaults"
 
 pkg_postinst_ntpdate() {
-    if ! grep -q -s ntpdate $D/var/spool/cron/root; then
-        echo "adding crontab"
-        test -d $D/var/spool/cron || mkdir -p $D/var/spool/cron
-        echo "30 * * * *    ${bindir}/ntpdate-sync silent" >> $D/var/spool/cron/root
+    if grep -q -s ntpdate $D/var/spool/cron/root; then
+        echo "comment the old crontab entry"
+        sed -i -e "/^[^#]/ s/\(.*\)\(.*ntpdate-sync.*$\)/#\1\2/g" $D/var/spool/cron/root
+    fi
+    systemctl status crond > /dev/null 2>&1
+    if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
+        systemctl restart crond
+    else
+        /etc/init.d/cron restart
     fi
 }
-