[LEAPSECS] USWP7A docs for 2013 September meetings

[Poul-Henning Kamp]

In message <4E52262B71749242AFB45D617BA3A8A0B3B325DFC6 at NRCWSTHCM1.NRC.CA>, "Red
man, Russell" writes:


>I actually believe (foolish me) that very little new code needs to be written, 

>but there are always very subtle issues that must be dealt with [...]


Writing the code is the least part of the task.

Testing it, although much worse than writing it, is also not the problem.

Getting over the emotional licensing hangups and the "Not Invented
Here" syndrome are but minor hurdles.

Getting people to run the code is for all practical purposes impossible.


My credentials for this claim is that my "md5crypt" is probably one
of the most widely deployed pieces of code *ever* and it still did
not even come close to universal adoption.

Your idea is simply not going to happen, period.

Even if you come up with a very concrete and heavy-handed legal
threat (See: Y2K) most operations will find it cheaper to just
shut down during the leap-second, than identifying and adapting
and certifying all their software.

You are talking recertification of production-lines for medicine,
control systems for ATC, power-plants, railroads, emergency services,
sewage treatment and the list just goes on and on and on...

The world is never going to spend that effort in finite time.

There are only two realistically possible outcomes:  Leap seconds
go, and nothing much happens, apart from a handful of astronomers
needing dental repairs, or leap second stays until they create
enough havoc to be removed anyway (max 2 centuries)

Given how hard and expensive leapseconds are to test, there is
no credible scenario, under which they will be handled correctly
by default as long as the are sprung on the world with 6 months
notice.

The only credible way to get leapseconds handled better, is to
announce them so far in advance that their handling can be embedded
in operating systems and the regular software life-/update-cycle
will get most systems prepared for the lifetime of the software
release.

That would require leap-seconds to be announced irevokably
5-10 years in advance.

If you want to keep them, _that_ is the cart you should push.

-- 
Poul-Henning Kamp       | UNIX since Zilog Zeus 3.20
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FreeBSD committer       | BSD since 4.3-tahoe    
Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by incompetence.