  We present reliable a posteriori estimators for some fully discrete schemes
applied to nonlinear systems of hyperbolic conservation laws in one space
dimension with strictly convex entropy. The schemes are based on a method of
lines approach combining discontinuous Galerkin spatial discretization with
single- or multi-step methods in time. The construction of the estimators
requires a reconstruction in time for which we present a very general framework
first for odes and then apply the approach to conservation laws. The
reconstruction does not depend on the actual method used for evolving the
solution in time. Most importantly it covers in addition to implicit methods
also the wide range of explicit methods typically used to solve conservation
laws. For the spatial discretization, we allow for standard choices of
numerical fluxes. We use reconstructions of the discrete solution together with
the relative entropy stability framework, which leads to error control in the
case of smooth solutions. We study under which conditions on the numerical flux
the estimate is of optimal order pre-shock. While the estimator we derive is
computable and valid post-shock for fixed meshsize, it will blow up as the
meshsize tends to zero. This is due to a breakdown of the relative entropy
framework when discontinuities develop. We conclude with some numerical
benchmarking to test the robustness of the derived estimator.
