[Cialug] OT: 2038 bug

[cialug@cialug.org]

I'm sure most of you know this already, but it is still interesting.  On January
18th, 2038, the clock in a lot of OS's will stop functioning correctly.  Here's
a link:
http://www.deepsky.com/~merovech/2038.html

The link references C source code, which I downloaded and compiled on AIX 4,
RH7.2, RH8.0, SCO OpenServer 3.2 and Win2K Pro.  Aix 4 had no problems, it kept
right on going.  RH7.2 and RH8.0 reverted back to 1901, and kept going from
there (what I expected).  Win2K stopped and gave me 'The instruction at
"0x00401446" referenced memory at "0x00000018".  The memory could not be
"read".'    Interesting!  Nothing like referencing memory that isn't yours, just
to figure out the time!  SCO OpenServer reverted back to 1901, but kept
repeating itself.  I guess we know one part of Linux that wasn't copied from
SCO. :-)

As the article states, we still have a lot of time, however people signing up
for 30 year mortgages in a few years could have problems.

--
Tim W.