Re: [LEAPSECS] What problems do leap seconds *really* create?

From: Ken Pizzini <ken_at_halcyon.com>
Date: Wed, 29 Jan 2003 22:06:07 -0800

On Wed, Jan 29, 2003 at 07:04:23PM +0000, Markus Kuhn wrote:
> Who really needs to maintain a full list of leap seconds and for what
> application exactly?

If a file storage system stores timestamps as "SI seconds since
some epoch", and a legal question arises about whether a given
document was stored on that system before or after midnight on
some given date, the logic which converts the timestamp to a
UTC date will need to know how many leap seconds to adjust for,
which in the general case means that the logic converting these
file-timestamps into UTC will need a full list of leap seconds.

(Just answering the asked question; I make no claim that any
system which might realistically be involved in the above scenario
would have any difficulty in maintaining such a list.)

                --Ken Pizzini
Received on Wed Jan 29 2003 - 22:06:38 PST