Comments on: ASL: Searching http://boredzo.org/blog/archives/2008-01-23/asl-searching The personal weblog of Peter Hosey. Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:19:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: Peter Hosey http://boredzo.org/blog/archives/2008-01-23/asl-searching#comment-157763 Peter Hosey Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:49:02 +0000 http://boredzo.org/blog/archives/2008-01-23/asl-searching#comment-157763 <p>Ahruman: I've added a note about that.</p> <p>Keep in mind that the actual specification of <code>ASL_KEY_TIME</code>'s value is not documented anywhere. The only documentation is of its value is the erroneous comment in asl.h. So all I see is a count of seconds since 1970.</p> <p>Do you know of a way that I can tell whether it's giving me leap seconds or not? (Preferably without changing my computer's clock.)</p> Ahruman: I've added a note about that.

Keep in mind that the actual specification of ASL_KEY_TIME's value is not documented anywhere. The only documentation is of its value is the erroneous comment in asl.h. So all I see is a count of seconds since 1970.

Do you know of a way that I can tell whether it's giving me leap seconds or not? (Preferably without changing my computer's clock.)

]]> By: Ahruman http://boredzo.org/blog/archives/2008-01-23/asl-searching#comment-157710 Ahruman Thu, 24 Jan 2008 11:21:11 +0000 http://boredzo.org/blog/archives/2008-01-23/asl-searching#comment-157710 Massive super-nitpick: Unix time is not the number of seconds since the epoch. It’s the number of nominal (clock) seconds since the epoch. This difference (currently about 25 seconds) matters, because Unix time does not increase monotonously – it skips negative seconds and repeats positive leap seconds. If you’re expecting, say, log messages to always be in-order based on Unix time, you’re setting yourself up for a potential failure in the middle of the night once every few years. Massive super-nitpick: Unix time is not the number of seconds since the epoch. It’s the number of nominal (clock) seconds since the epoch. This difference (currently about 25 seconds) matters, because Unix time does not increase monotonously – it skips negative seconds and repeats positive leap seconds. If you’re expecting, say, log messages to always be in-order based on Unix time, you’re setting yourself up for a potential failure in the middle of the night once every few years.

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