Re: Bug: Status/Summary of slashdot leap-second crash on new years 2008-2009

David Newall
2009-01-03T06:33:46Z

Robert Hancock wrote:
> Diego Calleja wrote:
>> How could I create a test case that reproduces what ntp does? Just add
>> a second?
>
> I'd think that setting the clock to just before midnight on Dec.31 and
> using the adjtimex syscall to set the TIME_INS state on the clock,
> then waiting until midnight rolls around would be a reasonable test..

I don't understand this idea, nor the patch for the problem. I don't
see why adding a leap second would impact the kernel in any way.
Shouldn't this be a simple zoneinfo change, whereby the last two seconds
of the year (in each timezone) both map to 31dec2008 23:59:59? That's
the way the change has worked in the real world. Why would ntp or the
kernel be involved?