[LEAPSECS] ISO Influence

Daniel R. Tobias dan at tobias.name
Sun Dec 19 20:41:13 EST 2010


On 19 Dec 2010 at 9:58, Poul-Henning Kamp wrote:


> I don't think using Y2K metrics to estimate reviews for leap-second

> trouble is valid, it would underestimate the effort needed, as both

> Warner and I have learned the hard way: The issues involved are

> much trickier than a mere numeric rollover.


On the other hand, the century rollover is a once-in-a-lifetime event
that hadn't happened before within the computer age (maybe a few
Hollerith punch-card systems got confused by the 1899-1900 rollover).
Leap seconds have happened dozens of times since the 1970s, were
happening regularly while the current computing standards were being
devised, continued to happen regularly while current systems were
implemented, deployed, and used, and will continue to happen
regularly for at least the next few years even if a plan is adopted
to ultimately stop them. Thus, it's silly to treat leap seconds as
strictly a future event with unexpected consequences.


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