nanog mailing list archives

Re: Leap second tonight


From: Nick Hilliard <nick () foobar org>
Date: Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:57:38 +0000

Peter Beckman wrote:
    * GMT is used to imply UT1, but sometimes UTC, but really GMT is just
      massively confusing and you shouldn't use it, either in conversation
      or in your servers/routers, because nobody is really sure without
      reading a lot of documentation what GMT means for each
      manufacturer/OS/software.

WET/WEST is a little more precise and less confusing than GMT/BST (or IST if you're of a more celtic nature, although this confuses people living on the Indian subcontinent) although in tz-land, GMT has a specific and pretty consistent definition. But it is generally a bad idea to use it. People get confused.

    * When writing code regarding dates and times, know that any year may
      have 366 days, and any minute may have 61 seconds.

Or 59 seconds in the case of a negative leap second.

Nick


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