RE: time_t size: The year 2038 bug Summary:

From: David Weinehall (tao@acc.umu.se)
Date: Tue Jan 11 2000 - 11:24:49 EST


Who, who, wait a minute, everyone. Sit down, breathe calmly for five
minutes, have a sip of your favourite drink (in my case Coca-Cola or
Milk) and think about this in a somewhat wider perspective.

Linux is not the only platform that will suffer from this problem. All
platforms using time_t will (at least those with 32-bit int.)

What does this mean?

o Almost every major Unix-system is affected
o Those very same Unix-systems all need a solution

We need something portable, for sake of whomever you hold for deity, if
any.

Do you all expect programmers to rewrite their now "perfectly portable
simply through a recompile"-code to sport 10 different replacements for
time_t that are totally mutually incompatible?

You do?

Well, then you need to change favourite beverage, I think, or simply
a couple of hours of sleep before you consider this again.

What is needed here is someone to make sure that POSIX/ANSI/whatever group
that contains enough Unix-vendors to make a decision a standard that
everyone can accept, sits down to discuss this issue as soon as possible,
so that we can avoid repeating the year 2000 hysteria around year 2037.

Just my 0.02 SKR.

/David
  _ _
 // David Weinehall <tao@acc.umu.se> /> Northern lights wander \\
// Project MCA Linux hacker // Dance across the winter sky //
\> http://www.acc.umu.se/~tao/ </ Full colour fire </

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