[LEAPSECS] stale leap second information

[Brooks Harris]

On 2015-01-12 02:03 PM, Tom Van Baak wrote:
>> If would really be good if there was one authoritative soure for this,
>> and that there was a uniform format. Ideally there would be multiple
>> ways to access it, via text and binary for different architectures. The
>> might be thought of as a "UTC Metadata API", from which various "UTC
>> Metadata Servers" could be implemented.
>>
>> -Brooks
> One authoritative source or one uniform format is asking for trouble.

Well, what I meant was, IERS is responsible for the Leap Second decision 
itself. This information, and its history, (the "metadata") has to 
propagate from that source to all consuming systems through some 
*official* dissemination channel or channels.

>
> An NTP pool style list of leap second servers would be a better idea.
Obviously there needs to be redundancy in implementations.

>
> You don't want the same format for an OS as you do for an Arduino, or for a compilable piece of software vs. a running binary.

That's what I meant - there needs to be multiple ways, appropriate to 
each architecture or purpose, to obtain the information. So, that's why 
I suggested it as an "API": a clearly defined set of metadata that could 
be implemented in compatible ways in many forms.

As it stands there's lots of ways to get it, none of them in the same 
form, and none perfectly complete, compatible, authoritative, reliable, 
or automatic.

-Brooks
>
> /tvb
>
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