Re: Y2k compliance

Rik van Riel (H.H.vanRiel@phys.uu.nl)
Tue, 1 Dec 1998 09:02:32 +0100 (CET)


On Mon, 30 Nov 1998, Linux Lists wrote:

> Quick question: since which version has Linux been Y2k-compliant?

Linux is not a single large bulky package so I cannot really
provide a sensible answer to this question.

I can tell you, however, that the kernel has been compliant
for 5 or 6 years now (maybe longer, but I suspect the iso9660
weirdness wasn't worked around back then) and the C library
has been fully compliant for about 2 years.

There are some obscure bugs in libc version 4, but I suspect they
won't even show up under 'normal' use.

Linux (and other Unices) use a 32-bit number for time. The
number denotes the number of seconds (signed) since the
start of 1970 -- this number won't overflow until february
2038, at which time we will all have switched to 64-bit
numbers which will remain valid for about 1200 times the
life expectancy of the universe. This, of course, is when
you take a very optimist approach of the universes life
expectancy :))

cheers,

Rik -- no braindead Y2K stuff for me...
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