[LEAPSECS] Meeting with Wayne Whyte

[Warner Losh]

On 02/01/2011 03:59, Stephen Colebourne wrote:

> On 1 February 2011 05:12, Mark Calabretta<mcalabre at atnf.csiro.au>  wrote:

>>> It is also a central problem of time_t: how do you map this

>>> non-uniform-radix notation onto a uniform count that must always satisfy

>>> properties that explicitly mandate a uniform-radix.

>> Vide the mapping of calendar date to Julian Date.

>>

>> The fundamental problem is that there is no formula for determining

>> when leap seconds occur.

> No, the rules for inserting leap seconds are simple enough in

> computation terms. The problem is entirely with the 23:59:60 notation

> being unacceptable to the API design.


That is *ALSO* a problem.  But if you have to deploy a system that 
counts time correctly for the next 10 years, not knowing for sure when 
the leap seconds will be presents a number of challenges.

Warner