Subject: Re: Long-lived software?
To: new-httpd@hyperreal.com
Date: Mon, 28 Oct 1996 05:46:07 +0000 (GMT)
From: Ben Laurie <ben@gonzo.ben.algroup.co.uk>
In-Reply-To: <9610272119.aa22736@paris.ics.uci.edu> from "Roy T. Fielding" at
 Oct 27, 96 09:19:42 pm
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Message-ID: <9610280546.aa12401@gonzo.ben.algroup.co.uk>
Sender: owner-new-httpd@apache.org
Precedence: bulk
Reply-To: new-httpd@hyperreal.com

Roy T. Fielding wrote:
> 
> > I was just reading through Roy's new util_date stuff, and I have a
> > question: what if someone decides to use Apache through the
> > twenty-second century? I mean, sure, 114 years is a long time, but
> > that's what they said about the year 2000 twenty years ago, and now
> > some people say that the year 2000 problem is going to bankrupt half
> > of all Fortune 1000 companies. (I'm exaggerating here)
> > 
> > My point is, the code, as stands, will be a full day off as of March
> > 1, 2100, since it does not accurately take into account that this is
> > not leap year. It even says this in the comments (twice). Do we really
> > want to be this short-sighted?
> 
> Ummmm, no, it will fall over and die in 2038, as will every Unix system
> on the planet (assuming nobody ever fixes the time_t limitations).
> That isn't a problem for this particular usage (protocol dates).
> Most people don't even realize that, which is why the comments are so
> extensive.

Hmmm ... surely they'll all be >= 64 bit long before then.

> 
> I suppose we could write a set of routines that assumes that eventually
> there will be unsigned long versions of the Unix time routines, but there
> is nothing to gain until such an interface exists.  Besides, by the time
> that happens they might make it a double.

What is time_t on an Alpha?

Cheers,

Ben.

-- 
Ben Laurie                  Phone: +44 (181) 994 6435
Freelance Consultant and    Fax:   +44 (181) 994 6472
Technical Director          Email: ben@algroup.co.uk
A.L. Digital Ltd,           URL: http://www.algroup.co.uk
London, England.            Apache Group member (http://www.apache.org)