The End of the World ( as far as Unix is concerned)

Попаднах на следния интересен проблем:

The year 2038 problem (also known as "Unix Millennium bug", "Y2K38," "Y2K+38," or "Y2.038K" by analogy to the Y2K problem) may cause some computer software to fail before or in the year 2038. The problem affects Unix-like dating systems, which represent system time as the number of seconds (ignoring leap seconds) since 00:00:00 January 1, 1970.[1] This representation also affects software written for most other operating systems because of the broad deployment of C. On most 32-bit systems, the time_t data type used to store this second count is a signed 32-bit integer. The latest time that can be represented in this format, following the POSIX standard, is 03:14:07 UTC on Tuesday, January 19, 2038. Times beyond this moment will "wrap around" and be represented internally as a negative number, and cause programs to fail, since they will see these times as being not in 2038, but rather in 1901. Erroneous calculations and decisions may therefore result.

Решението е:

Most operating systems for 64-bit architectures already use 64-bit integers in their time_t. The move to these architectures is already under way and many expect it to be complete before 2038.

И нещото което ме развесели супер много е последното изречение от ето този пасаж:

Using a (signed) 64-bit value introduces a new wraparound date in about 290 billion years, on Sunday, December 4, 292,277,026,596. This problem, however, is not widely regarded as a pressing issue.