The new rc.d system does not make use of the rdate_flags variable in
rc.conf. Something like this could go in /etc/rc.d/rdate:
#!/bin/sh
#
daemon="/usr/sbin/rdate"
. /etc/rc.d/rc.subr
rc_check=NO
rc_reload=NO
rc_restart=NO
rc_stop=NO
rc_cmd $1
And then the following applied to /etc/rc:
Index: rc
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/src/etc/rc,v
retrieving revision 1.385
diff -u -r1.385 rc
--- rc 11 Jul 2011 17:20:09 -0000 1.385
+++ rc 18 Jul 2011 07:09:33 -0000
@@ -415,7 +415,7 @@
make_keys
echo -n 'starting early daemons:'
-start_daemon syslogd ldattach pflogd named nsd ntpd isakmpd iked sasyncd
+start_daemon syslogd ldattach pflogd named nsd rdate ntpd isakmpd iked sasyncd
echo '.'
if [ X"${ipsec}" != X"NO" ]; then
