[LEAPSECS] Leap second smearing test results

[John Sauter]

On Thu, 2016-12-22 at 21:50 -0700, Warner Losh wrote:
> 
> These are the reasons I hate leap seconds: they are of dubious value
> and cause all kinds of havoc because nobody expects them to work, and
> the programming standards are written as if they don't exist.
> 
> Warner

Dubious value: leap seconds cause UTC, and thus civil time, to track
the sun.  I don't regard that value as dubious.

Cause all kinds of havoc because nobody expects them to work:
expectations can be changed by fixing the applications so that they do
work.  Fixing applications takes time, and expectations will lag behind
the fixes, but given time the problem is not unsolvable.

The programming standards are written as if they don't exist: no longer
completely true--POSIX, for example, implicitly acknowledges their
existence before requiring applications to pretend they don't exist. 
Standards follow practice: when applications routinely handle leap
seconds correctly, their techniques will be incorporated into
standards.
    John Sauter (John_Sauter at systemeyescomputerstore.com)
-- 
PGP fingerprint E24A D25B E5FE 4914 A603  49EC 7030 3EA1 9A0B 511E
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