Re: Y2.038K (slightly off topic)

[Charles Hixson <charleshixsn earthlink net>]

John MacLean wrote:

> Don't think this is exactly the answer meant by J. Dow. We aren't dealing
> with two digit years; present Linux date system handles ~1901 to ~2038 which
> exceeds a 100 year period.  The year isn't really an issue, its more of an
> issue of running out of seconds since epoch.
> Might the idea be to reset (within one's code) epoch from Jan 01 00:00:01
> GMT 1970 to a more recent date, say Jan 01 00:00:01 GMT 2000, if one only
> required manipulating dates from today to 2068?
>
> John
>
> ...

I think that a better idea would be to expand the number of bits used to
represent the time.  It seems to me that time was a 64 bit signed integer, then
most times of interest could be easily represented.  If not, then try a 128 bit
signed integer.  This should be no problem in so far as we are discussing amount
of storage used even now, much less by 2038.  I would suggest that the ideal
time for the transition would be during the switch to 64 bit processors.

-- (c) Charles Hixson
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