From: Wally W.    
   Subject: Re: 'Leap Second' to Be Added on New Year's Eve This Year   
       
   On Fri, 30 Dec 2016 17:48:04 -0800, Keith Thompson wrote:   
       
   >Mark Lloyd  writes:   
   >> On 12/30/2016 04:37 PM, Keith Thompson wrote:   
   >>   
   >> [snip]   
   >>   
   >>> The time is stored in a time_t value returned by the time()   
   >>> function.  The time_t type is required to be a real type (integer   
   >>> or floating-point, not complex) capable of representing times.   
   >>> (On many systems it's a signed integer representing seconds since   
   >>> 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC.)   
   >>   
   >> Used to be 32-bit, why I thought Y2K was going to be much less of a    
   >> problem than Y2.038K (Jan 17 2038 IIRC).   
   >[...]   
   >   
   >Tue 2038-01-19 03:14:08 UTC   
   >   
   >64-bit systems already use a 64-bit signed integer for time_t, which   
   >postpones the problem for about 292 billion years.     
       
   As I understand it, NT time uses a signed integer and tops out at   
   0x7FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF = in the year 30828   
       
   Unhappily, no sources suggest using negative integers will allow   
   setting the timestamp before the year 1600.   
       
   Otherwise, timestamps could be set for any date in known history; as   
   in 4004 BC, which by some counts includes Day One.   
       
       
   >And since C requires   
   >long long to be at least 64 bits, I expect that 32-bit systems (and   
   >smaller ones, if any) will transition to 64-bit time_t before 2038.   
   >   
   >Unlike 2-digit years, I suspect that most stored time_t values (which   
   >are rarely displayed) are in files that can be converted reasonably   
   >easily.   
       
      
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