[LEAPSECS] internet drafts about zoneinfo (POSIX Time)

[Tom Van Baak]

> Which special hardware is it that will allow a Unix machine to both tick SI seconds and accurately follow leap 

> seconds?


Special hardware? We don't need no stinkin' special hardware.
In the late 1970's when I first used UNIX it was called an on/off
switch.

When you turned on the PDP11 you set the time from your watch
or wall clock and unix kept time pretty well. When you were done
with it at night you turned the machine off.

Leap seconds posed no real problem since time_t does not "count
time" as much as it is an very convenient way to "hold" or "encode"
time. Most programmers would agree that a 32- or 64-bit integer is
far more convenient that an ascii string to hold the time of day; to
compare time, to increment time.. OK, sure there's that cute little
loophole a coupe of times a decade where you can't uniquely
encode the ascii time called 23:59:60, but I can assure you that
no one had a problem with this in the early days.

/tvb