Re: Predictable Internet Time

Tony Finch <dot@dotat.at> Tue, 03 January 2017 20:34 UTC

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From: Tony Finch <dot@dotat.at>
To: Joe Touch <touch@isi.edu>
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Subject: Re: Predictable Internet Time
Date: Tue, 03 Jan 2017 20:34:49 +0000
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Joe Touch <touch@isi.edu> wrote:

> We really need to separate the frames of reference of time -
> there's no
> need for smear for internal "seconds since epoch" time.



Well, the problem is that "seconds since the epoch" is not a count of
UTC seconds, it is a mapping from broken-down time to a linear time, and
the mapping is defined in a way that requires 86400 seconds per day and
does not accommodate leap seconds.


http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/V1_chap04.html#tag_04_16


Leap smear exists mainly because "seconds since the epoch" does not
allow for leap seconds.


Tony.

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