On 2009-03-30_16:21:39, Ron Johnson wrote: > On 2009-03-30 15:50, Paul E Condon wrote: >> On 2009-03-29_11:15:15, Ron Johnson wrote: > [snip] >>> If you only have Linux on your computer, then it's clock is most >>> likely UTC. >> >> On a Linux computer, the internal clock is almost certainly *NOT* UTC, >> rather it is "seconds since Unix Epoch", often shortened to "seconds >> since Epoch", or just "Unix time". > > The BIOS does not have a concept of time zone. It only knows "seconds > since it's epoch". And that's (I think) translated to a struct or string
True, seconds since it's epoch, but it's epoch is not Unix Epoch, and all sorts of uncertainties and confusions arise because nobody knows the "DOS epoch" of someone else's computer. What a mess! At least with Unix there is only one epoch to argue about, rather than millions and millions in all the Windows computers in the world. The implementation of time keeping in Debian/GNU/Linux is actually quite well done. I had not been aware of how well done until recently while engaging in this discussion. I have issues with some of the descriptions of it that I perceive to be sloppily worded. I think too many descriptions are written with an eye to shutting up a person who asks question than to describing how thing actually work. Debian does pretty well at avoiding these conventional falsehoods. (I think of answers to "Where do babies come from?" for instance.) Now, I want to stop arguing about the descriptions. But just one last shot. I believe it is factually incorrect to say that you 'lose an hour' in switching from standard to summer time. It is conventional wording, it is manifestly untrue. But if people say it often enough, it becomes something that is used in syllogisms as if it were a fact. -- Paul E Condon pecon...@mesanetworks.net -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
