nixCraft 🐧Terminal forever <3 https://www.commitstrip.com/en/2016/12/22/terminal-forever/? #unix #linux #macos #freebsd
StarkRG@nixCraft
2038: 1901 is gonna be a good year.
Ian Chard@flup 1970 would be 0, the 2038 bug is a signed 32-bit integer rollover so it'll become maximally negative.
2106 would be the unsigned 32-bit integer limit, but I'm not sure how much that's used.
@StarkRG of course, silly me. Is this actually what happens on a system with 32-bit time_t?
@flup Without mitigations, I think so, yeah. Most consumer facing stuff is 64-bit these days (laptops, desktops, phones, tablets), but I think embedded systems are dominated by 32-bit processors (actually, I think it's probably still dominated by 16-bit, with 32-bit a close second, the 16-bit systems probably don't handle time, though). You *can* use 64-bit time on a 32-bit system, but it's an added complication that I doubt many will have bothered with.
@StarkRG Yeah, it’s the legacy stuff that’s worrying. The dusty embedded widget that sits in a cupboard running the national grid. And I’ll bet there’s 64-bit hardware out there still running kernels with 32-bit time representation.
@flup And 32-bit programs running on 64-bit systems. Like some manager was told they need to upgrade to 64-bit so they just replace the hardware and OS, but continue running their proprietary 32-bit software. It probably won't be as impactful as Crowdstrike's f-up, but it'll be a lot harder to get what is impacted up and running again.
Oh crap, and what about 32-bit protocols? Like the system that lets airlines rebook passengers on another airline. Sorry, you're 135 years late for your flight.