[ On Wednesday, August 21, 2002 at 16:31:55 (-0700), Jonathan Stone wrote: ]
> Subject: Re: microtime 
>
> My recollection isx that  POSIX rules forbids Bernstein's idea.

Well, if I understand the second-hand explanation (I did not follow the
noted URL and rea the actual proposal by Bernstein), POSIX (IEEE Std
1003.1-2001, and ISO C) _requires_ it.

The result of time() is, and as far as I know always has been, defined
as an interval time.  Only localtime(), gmtime(), and perhaps ctime(),
are defined as returning time-of-day representations.

> Quite apart from that, it's a *dumb* idea.

Huh?

> The kernel time would be about 30 seconds out form wall time, and will
> continue to drift further out of step, as (given the slowdown in
> rotation fo the Earth) TAI and UTC slowly diverge.

How would you know?  Are you really able to translate gettimeofday() or
time() results in your head with that level of accuracy that you'd
notice?!?!?!?

>  There is a
> nonzero user community where this is absolutely unacceptable.

are you sure?  what interfaces are they using?

-- 
								Greg A. Woods

+1 416 218-0098;            <g.a.woods@ieee.org>;           <woods@robohack.ca>
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