random832@fastmail.us wrote:
I wonder if they should really be deleting this, rather than amending it to some rolling rule.
It would make sense for the federal government to have a Y2038 requirement now rather than waiting until 23 years from now. Most cell phones and other 32-bit platforms would not conform, as they'll stop working when 32-bit time_t values roll around, so it may be a bit much to insist that every government acquisition conform right away. At least, though, there should be a well-documented expiration date on whatever hardware and/or software the federal government acquires. A few 32-bit platforms have fixed the Y2038 problem by going to 64-bit time_t. I know of NetBSD 6.0 (Oct. 2012), OpenBSD 5.5 (scheduled for next month), and GNU/Linux x32 (a 32-bit ABI on a 64-bit kernel, not part of any widely-used distribution). Making a real system work well past 2038 can be a challenge even with these operating systems, though, as many of their file systems, applications, and protocols are still limited to 32-bit time_t values.