[LEAPSECS] article for Metrologia

[Poul-Henning Kamp]

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Warner Losh writes:

> The problem is time_t can't encode a leap second uniquely, but leap seconds
> had been a thing for ~20 years when the first POSIX standards came out. It
> was more of a willful choice to disregard them entirely as a simplification
> than lack of clairvoyance.

I would say it is even worse:

POSIX was simply an administrative exercise to rapidly rubber-stamp
the AT&T manuals to define a common baseline "before UNIX fragmented".

The "technical review" of POSIX amounted to "The seven dwarfs" comparing
it to their own manuals, to ensure that their "me-too" UNIX could be made
compliant with minimal effort.

Even if it had been a very convincing proposal, any change as
fundamental as time_t, be it leap-seconds or 64 bits, would have
been instantly shot down, entirely on the grounds that "The seven
dwarfs" didnt have the in-house UNIX-skill to implement the change.

-- 
Poul-Henning Kamp       | UNIX since Zilog Zeus 3.20
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