Re: [LEAPSECS] Risks of change to UTC

From: M. Warner Losh <imp_at_BSDIMP.COM>
Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2006 15:02:52 -0700 (MST)

In message: <20060120215240.GN25156_at_feynman>
            Neal McBurnett <neal_at_bcn.boulder.co.us> writes:
: These astronomical and navigation systems currently get inputs of time
: from all sorts of other systems and people: other instruments, other
: computers, sub-contractors, etc. Changing the meaning of UTC would
: lead to a cascade of systems that changed their own timescales and
: I/O formats, meaning that auditing the flow of time data between them
: would get more and more complex for a long time.

The changing formats should indeed be phased in. First, changes to
the data streams so that they can represent DUT1 > 0.9s. Next, fix
everything that breaks... Repeat. You're likely right, this will
take a long long time :-(.

Warner
Received on Fri Jan 20 2006 - 14:04:14 PST