> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ted Ashton [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Subject: Re: UNIX FAILURE THIS WEEKEND?
>
> Thus it was written in the epistle of James Tollerson,

> > Has any one heard about unix failure this weekend?

>
> Haven't heard anything, but at 40 seconds past 9:46 the evening of the
> 8th, the Un*x time() function will start returning a 10-digit number
> instead of the 9-digit one it has returned up to this point.  Undoubtedly
> it will catch a few minor bugs where programmers assumed 9 digits or where
> they used string comparison instead of numeric comparison on time values.

================================================================
I got the following response from someone else whom I'm omitting
for privacy reasons:

----------------------------------------------------------------
Incorrect assumptions.  The Unix time() function returns a binary
number, not a string of digits.  The 32-bit integer will not overflow.
The only reason I know of that ANYONE has made a big deal of this is
that someone in the local chapter of the Unix system administrators'
guild wanted to use it as an excuse to go out drinking.  And he made no
bones about that being his motivation.  ;->

The real problem will come in 2038, when the SIGNED 32-bit integer will
in fact overflow.  But by then, this being Unix, it will have been
fixed for quite some time.  Most likely either by making time_t an
UNsigned 32-bit integer, or by making it a 64-bit integer.

In case you want to make a note in your Fingernail Pilot to check
whether I was right, this will happen between 22:14:07 EDT and 22:14:08
EDT on Mon 18 Jan AD 2038.  It will be easy to check - by then, your
Fingernail Pilot will be running Linux instead of PalmOS.   [;-)]

Now:    0x3b96b178        999731576     Wed Sep  5 19:12:56 2001
Then:   0x3b9aca00       1000000000     Sat Sep  8 21:46:40 2001
Then:   0x40000000       1073741824     Sat Jan 10 08:37:04 2004
Then:   0x7fffffff       2147483647     Mon Jan 18 22:14:07 2038
And:    0x80000000      -2147483648     Fri Dec 13 15:45:52 1901

--

Tracy Johnson
MSI Schaevitz Sensors

* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *