On 2009-03-30_18:57:33, Ron Johnson wrote: > On 2009-03-30 17:47, Paul E Condon wrote: >> 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 > > It's more Unix/Posix and RFC 1305. > > Whoever decided on an epoch of 1970-01-01 00:00:00 was extraordinarily > shortsighted, though. The OpenVMS epoch gives much more flexibility...
I'm not familiar with the OpenVMS epoch, but I don't believe flexibility in a definition of a epoch can make it better. Where can I read a discussion of the value of making a epoch flexible? And what on earth does it mean to make an epoch flexible? > > [snip] >> >> 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. > > Besides, as Tom Furie mentioned losing an hour of sleep, what's really > happening is that you are shifting/rotating your UTC offset by 1 hour. Yes, Shifting/rotating is what I call changing the setting on your clock. Using words that suggest a break in the fabric of time vastly over state the powers of Man. > >> But if people say it often enough, >> it becomes something that is used in syllogisms as if it were a fact. > > Most people are very sloppy at thinking logically. [troll]Can women even > do it?[/troll] Progress! in coming to see my point. You can say things about women that you cannot yet admit about yourself. :-) -- 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
