> -----Original Message----- > From: Leap Seconds Issues [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > On Behalf Of Poul-Henning Kamp > Sent: January 21, 2005 3:40 AM > To: LEAPSECS@ROM.USNO.NAVY.MIL > Subject: Re: [LEAPSECS] two world clocks ... > >... What > >reliable evidence do we have that programmers are screwing up UTC > >left-and-right? > > Until two years ago Microsoft Windows got it wrong for Denmark.
I can believe they got the time zone wrong. That has nothing to do with leap seconds, and would not have been solved by abolishing them. > > UNIX has a continuous timescale with no room for leap seconds > which is supposed to be "UTC". > The POSIX clock is explicitly and deliberately not aligned with UTC or any other absolute time standard. Facilities for converting the system clock to local time are implementation-specific. This was not an oversight. Considerable analysis went into understanding how this would work. The bottom line is that it's not a problem for all but a very few applications, which have ways to work around it. These same applications have timekeeping synchronization costs that are far larger than the costs of these workarounds. /glen This message may contain privileged and/or confidential information. If you have received this e-mail in error or are not the intended recipient, you may not use, copy, disseminate or distribute it; do not open any attachments, delete it immediately from your system and notify the sender promptly by e-mail that you have done so. Thank you.