On 10/3/22 09:12, rsbec...@nexbridge.com wrote:
This happens in AR and TAR also, which appear to be limited to 32-bit time_t on some platforms. It's a struggle but we have some time to deal with it.
Yes, I've been part of an ongoing effort to make GNU apps Y2038-safe, even on 32-bit platforms. This is why I've been submitting patches to GNU Make. Many other GNU apps are also affected; core apps are mostly fixed already.
It's not just the year 2038, though that's the most pressing. Traditional tar format uses an unsigned 33-bit timestamp and stops working after 2242-03-16 12:56:31 UTC. ar format uses a 12-digit timestamp and stops working after 318857-05-20 17:46:39 UTC. Of course these are far-future problems - except that people or programs might use 'touch' to create far-future problems today. GNU tar has long had format fixes (gnu and pax formats) for this. GNU ar doesn't have a fix but that's less important. Etc.
In looking through old dev histories it appears Paul pushes changes every now and then, so I'll wait until he's pushed his next batch of changes, which will presumably include some timestamp-related fixes, before looking into this again.
