Thought Y2k was bad ? Wait till 2038

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2003-09-05 08:47am

If you are a C/C++ programmer like me chances are you already know this. Regardless I will repeat it for folks who do not know.

The C Runtime uses the time_t structure which is actualy a long integer that stores the number of seconds passed since midnight Jan 1st, 1970. Since an long int is 32 bits time_t maxes out at 2147483643 seconds. That is 68 years or in other words added to 1970 in the year 2038. That means we will be in big trouble if the C runtime library is not updated before that.
Good luck and see you in 2038 !

BoredShirtless · Post by **BoredShirtless** » 2003-09-05 08:52am

Don't panic, they will be updated.

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2003-09-05 09:33am

BoredShirtless wrote:Don't panic, they will be updated.

Of course the C run time library will be be improved over time, it has been happening since the early eighties. However this particular bug was spotted around mid nineties. Those of you who use microsoft tools will be aware of several articles in developer magazines mentioning it. But so far
nothing has happened.

In reality C will inevitiably be replaced with something better by 2038 so there is a very good chance that no one will suffer from this bug.

zombie84 · Post by **zombie84** » 2003-09-05 10:46am

isnt this the same problem that time travelling guy who claimed to be from the future was talking about?

Tribun · Post by **Tribun** » 2003-09-05 11:16am

Does it mean that all stuff, that is written in C ist then virually useless rubbish, to be kicked into the trash bin? Whow. All old Data is then lost forever, right?

BoredShirtless · Post by **BoredShirtless** » 2003-09-05 11:37am

Tribun wrote:Does it mean that all stuff, that is written in C ist then virually useless rubbish, to be kicked into the trash bin? Whow. All old Data is then lost forever, right?

The problem is in the time.h library. If your program uses this library, all you gotta do is install the new library and recompile.

Andrew J. · Post by **Andrew J.** » 2003-09-05 03:44pm

Does anyone even use C/C++ anymore?

BoredShirtless · Post by **BoredShirtless** » 2003-09-05 03:52pm

Andrew J. wrote:Does anyone even use C/C++ anymore?

Yes.

Tribun · Post by **Tribun** » 2003-09-05 07:46pm

BoredShirtless wrote:
Tribun wrote:Does it mean that all stuff, that is written in C ist then virually useless rubbish, to be kicked into the trash bin? Whow. All old Data is then lost forever, right?
The problem is in the time.h library. If your program uses this library, all you gotta do is install the new library and recompile.

Can you explain a bit, what this means, and what practically would fall under that?

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-09-05 09:31pm

Tribun wrote:Can you explain a bit, what this means, and what practically would fall under that?

Most people don't bother writing their own code for getting time. They use a standard library (time.h) that is included with most compilers. An update of time.h and perhaps a bit of code editing is all that is needed to correct this, in theory.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-09-05 09:36pm

Andrew J. wrote:Does anyone even use C/C++ anymore?

*slaps Andrew J*

Sorry, I had to.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2003-09-05 09:43pm

Andrew J. wrote:Does anyone even use C/C++ anymore?

I believe IIRC that C/C++ is still THE language to use in game programming.

Crayz9000 · Post by **Crayz9000** » 2003-09-05 09:49pm

It's also used in almost all application programming. Why, do you think that Microsoft would write Office in FORTRAN?

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-09-05 09:58pm

Let's start selling some "Y2038 protection" software to scan systems for the outdated time.h library in order to rip off, er... "help protect" users.

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2003-09-05 10:03pm

Let's start selling some "Y2038 protection" software to scan systems for the outdated time.h library in order to rip off, er... "help protect" users.

That's brilliant. You can rent some floorspace, I'll draw up the business cards, and we'll get someone else to tap out some random code-like shit.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-09-05 10:33pm

Darth Wong wrote:Let's start selling some "Y2038 protection" software to scan systems for the outdated time.h library in order to rip off, er... "help protect" users.

It would probably sell better with a title like "Y2.038Kilo Protection Pro"

Jim Raynor · Post by **Jim Raynor** » 2003-09-05 11:29pm

Darth Wong wrote:Let's start selling some "Y2038 protection" software to scan systems for the outdated time.h library in order to rip off, er... "help protect" users.

Just wondering, what the hell was on that bogus software anyway? I remember right before 2000 came my parents got some of that crap, which I never bothered installing, not that I needed to. It had to be able to do something, right?

Drooling Iguana · Post by **Drooling Iguana** » 2003-09-06 05:35am

Andrew J. wrote:Does anyone even use C/C++ anymore?

For that, you must die.

The Cleric · Post by **The Cleric** » 2003-09-06 09:01am

Since we have 35 more years before we have to worry about this, I hope that MS will be able to fix what would be a real problem. BTW, did ANYTHING happen with Y2K? It just sort of went away.

Crayz9000 · Post by **Crayz9000** » 2003-09-06 01:13pm

StormTrooperTR889 wrote:BTW, did ANYTHING happen with Y2K? It just sort of went away.

Most of the problems were extremely minor. Only those people still running ancient 1970s-era mainframes had to worry about catastrophic failures, really.

The Cleric · Post by **The Cleric** » 2003-09-06 04:25pm

What organization could possibly get away with 70's mainframes?

aphexmonster · Post by **aphexmonster** » 2003-09-06 05:32pm

DPDarkPrimus wrote:
Andrew J. wrote:Does anyone even use C/C++ anymore?
*slaps Andrew J*

Sorry, I had to.

Seriously, the baby jesus still rocks C++

2000AD · Post by **2000AD** » 2003-09-06 05:40pm

StormTrooperTR889 wrote:What organization could possibly get away with 70's mainframes?

Pity it wasn't Microsoft.

The Cleric · Post by **The Cleric** » 2003-09-06 07:51pm

Oh, that wouldn't have been pretty. The whole MS company crashing?

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-09-06 08:19pm

StormTrooperTR889 wrote:What organization could possibly get away with 70's mainframes?

Major financial institutions.