Re: RFC 99 (v2) Standardize ALL Perl platforms on UNIX epoch

[Nathan Torkington]

NOTICE: reply-to set to the -language-datetime list.

Ted Ashton writes:
> Well then, why 1970?  If we're defining our own, why buy into one
> which is scheduled to blow up in 2038?  Why not at the very least
> start with Jan 1, 2K?

This works, provided epoch seconds are stored in some form of big
integers (either arbitrary precision, or 64-bit).  The epoch change
would then be fine by me.  But epoch changes don't solve the 2038
problem, Unix already tried that before the move to 32-bit integers
(they moved the epoch from 1970 to 1971, I think, when their previous
size of integer was about to run out of space, then when it ran out
again next year they said "yeah, ok, wrong solution" :-). 

Nat