[LEAPSECS] We can all be winners

[Rob Seaman]

M. Warner Losh wrote:


> Experience has shown that multiple time scales lead to confusion.


The confusion is inherent in the system requirements.  There are two  
different kinds of timescale.  That is a simple fact.  How do we deal  
with that reality?  Wishing one away won't work.


> Look at the problems that have been enumerated here when a GPS

> receiver starts up cold.  It knows right away what the GPS time is,

> but takes as long as about 20 minutes to know what the UTC time is.

> This causes grief for those systems that want to start faster than

> that to display UTC time.


Surely the GPS receiver should be fed into an NTP server and the  
systems you describe should be receiving their time from the normal  
ensemble of servers?

Your comment is a simple observation about how GPS works.


> I'm not sure that the ITU would have produced anything that's

> significantly more functional and robust than the proposal on the

> table today.


The ITU doesn't have to go it alone.  As rousing as the discussions on  
the NTP WG can get, I proffer it as a example of a better process.

Rob