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1

Once upon a time, Nathan Malynn <neito@nerdramblingz.com> said:
> Question about 2k38: Aren't most Unixoid systems using 64-bit clocks now?

Unix/POSIX systems use "time_t" to store the base time counter, which is
seconds since the epoch (1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC). Most platforms still
use a 32 bit time_t for compatibility.

However, it does appear that at some point, 64 bit Linux systems
switched to a 64 bit time_t, so I can only assume others are switching
as well. Hopefully, the 32 bit systems (at least that have to count
seconds) will be mostly gone in another 29 years.

FreeBSD used a 64-bit time_t for the AMD64 port pretty much right away.
On the flip side, it used a 32-bit time_t for the Alpha port. I guess
someone predicted "it wouldn't be a problem."

Nowhere near as annoying a problem as the variability of the size of
size_t.

... JG

2

Once upon a time, Joe Greco <jgreco@ns.sol.net> said:

FreeBSD used a 64-bit time_t for the AMD64 port pretty much right away.
On the flip side, it used a 32-bit time_t for the Alpha port. I guess
someone predicted "it wouldn't be a problem."

Tru64 on Alpha uses a 32 bit time_t (they have their own time64_t and
time64() call), so I expect *BSD and Linux on Alpha stayed with 32 bit
time_t for compatibility (Linux at least could run many Tru64 binaries).

3

NetBSD has just converted its -current branch to 64-bit time_t; I'm
pretty sure that that includes the Alpha port.

    --Steve Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb