You wrote:
| But what I was convincing myself of was precisely, as you | put it, that the number generated by strftime %s: | > ...is *not* the time_t value that produced this | > struct tm - it cannot be, as no such thing need exist.
Note you need to keep the correct standards in your head, and know what each requires, and what each specifies.
You also need to be clear about whether you're thinking as a user or an implementor. Also whether you're thinking about the way things are, or ought to be. I probably haven't been doing a good job of either, in this thread. Consequently I'm afraid we're talking at cross purposes. I may be able to pen a longer reply when I have more time, but likely not to the full list, as I doubt anyone else is interested in any more of my internal dialog, or your lengthy rebuttals to your, well, misunderstandings of it. :-)