Re: Y2K-like bug to hit Linux computers! - Info of the day

[Matthew Geier <matthew@arts.usyd.edu.au>]

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On Sat, May 14, 2005 at 10:09:04AM +0100, christos gentsis wrote:

 > BTW is there anyone that plan to use his embedded devise until 2038????
 > i would happy to see that :P any way embedded devises are there so they
 > will have sort life cycle... how long are you going to use them 6
 > months???? maximum 1-2 years....
 > so there is no any problem....

  I assume you are thinking of 'consumer' devices here, ADSL routers, 
Satelite 'Set top boxes' and the like that have short lives.

  Embeded computing is much bigger than that. I've got a 20 year old 
embedded processor controlled microwave oven. (It still knows how to 
cook better than I do :-).

  All sorts of Industrial machinery have embeded CPUs. I'm a train nut. 
In just this field, railways - equipment is expected to have a 30 year 
operational life span, and much of it is now driven by embeded 
computers, from traffic control signaling systems that have to be 
absolutely safe from 'wrong side failures', 'fly by wire' traction power 
control to regulate the trains speed, to monitoring the temprature of 
the air-conditioning. A train being built right at this very moment, 
with a 'train operating system' computer controlling every aspect of 
it's operation will probably still be in service in 2038.

  With any luck however, the people writing the software for these 
things are aware of this issue and are not blindly using signed 32 bit 
absolute time values from 1970.

  BTW, the machine i'm typing this on WONT have this problem. (Doubt 
that it will be still around in 2038 anyway). It's a 64bit platform and 
time_t is 64 bit.

  It isn't just a linux problem either, it's a generic Unix/C library 
problem. Any software system that uses a signed 32bit number from 1970 
to represent time. I have a vague recolection that there was another 
popular system around that also used signed 32bit time, only it's epoch 
is 1980. Those systems will go belly up 10 years after all the ancient 
Unix systems. :-)


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