Thread (1 message) 1 message, 1 author, 2010-01-17

Re: [PATCH 8/9] Consistently define the Epoch

From: Michael Kerrisk <hidden>
Date: 2010-01-17 04:58:10

Possibly related (same subject, not in this thread)

Hi Michael

On Sun, Jan 10, 2010 at 12:45 PM, Michael Witten [off-list ref] wrote:
All definitions of the Epoch have been refactored to the following:

 1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 (UTC)

That form is more consistent, logical, precise, and internationally
recognizable than the other variants.

Also, some wording has been altered as well.
Thanks! Applied.

Cheers,

Michael

quoted hunk
Signed-off-by: Michael Witten <redacted>
---
 man2/stime.2      |    4 ++--
 man2/time.2       |    4 ++--
 man2/utimensat.2  |    6 +++---
 man3/ctime.3      |    3 +--
 man3/difftime.3   |    6 +++---
 man3/ftime.3      |    4 ++--
 man3/getspnam.3   |    4 ++--
 man3/mq_receive.3 |    2 +-
 man3/mq_send.3    |    2 +-
 man3/rtime.3      |    4 ++--
 man3/sem_wait.3   |    2 +-
 man3/strftime.3   |    3 +--
 man3/strptime.3   |    3 +--
 man3/timeradd.3   |    3 +--
 man4/rtc.4        |    2 +-
 man5/core.5       |    2 +-
 man5/proc.5       |    2 +-
 man7/icmp.7       |    2 +-
 man7/time.7       |    2 +-
 19 files changed, 28 insertions(+), 32 deletions(-)
diff --git a/man2/stime.2 b/man2/stime.2
index 530d223..534e297 100644
--- a/man2/stime.2
+++ b/man2/stime.2
@@ -45,8 +45,8 @@ _SVID_SOURCE
 .SH DESCRIPTION
 .BR stime ()
 sets the system's idea of the time and date.
-Time, pointed
-to by \fIt\fP, is measured in seconds from 00:00:00 UTC January 1, 1970.
+The time, pointed
+to by \fIt\fP, is measured in seconds since the Epoch, 1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 (UTC).
 .BR stime ()
 may only be executed by the superuser.
 .SH "RETURN VALUE"
diff --git a/man2/time.2 b/man2/time.2
index 5fae9d9..c4b7679 100644
--- a/man2/time.2
+++ b/man2/time.2
@@ -35,8 +35,8 @@ time \- get time in seconds
 .BI "time_t time(time_t *" t );
 .SH DESCRIPTION
 .BR time ()
-returns the time since the Epoch
-(00:00:00 UTC, January 1, 1970), measured in seconds.
+returns the time as the number of seconds since the Epoch,
+1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 (UTC).

 If
 .I t
diff --git a/man2/utimensat.2 b/man2/utimensat.2
index a87e66e..76725b2 100644
--- a/man2/utimensat.2
+++ b/man2/utimensat.2
@@ -78,9 +78,9 @@ specifies the new "last access time" (\fIatime\fP);
 specifies the new "last modification time" (\fImtime\fP).
 Each of the elements of
 .I times
-specifies a time in seconds and nanoseconds
-since the Epoch (00:00:00, 1 Jan 1970, UTC),
-in a structure of the following form:
+specifies a time as the the number of seconds and nanoseconds
+since the Epoch, 1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 (UTC).
+This information is conveyed in a structure of the following form:
 .in +4n
 .nf
diff --git a/man3/ctime.3 b/man3/ctime.3
index 75e2f76..132c364 100644
--- a/man3/ctime.3
+++ b/man3/ctime.3
@@ -78,8 +78,7 @@ and
 functions all take
 an argument of data type \fItime_t\fP which represents calendar time.
 When interpreted as an absolute time value, it represents the number of
-seconds elapsed since 00:00:00 on January 1, 1970, Coordinated Universal
-Time (UTC).
+seconds elapsed since the Epoch, 1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 (UTC).
 .PP
 The
 .BR asctime ()
diff --git a/man3/difftime.3 b/man3/difftime.3
index 5567751..79887b1 100644
--- a/man3/difftime.3
+++ b/man3/difftime.3
@@ -40,9 +40,9 @@ The
 function returns the number of seconds elapsed
 between time \fItime1\fP and time \fItime0\fP, represented as a
 .IR double .
-The two times are specified in calendar time, which represents the time
-elapsed since the Epoch
-(00:00:00 on January 1, 1970, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)).
+Each of the times is specified in calendar time, which means its
+value is a measurement (in seconds) relative to the Epoch,
+1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 (UTC).
 .SH "CONFORMING TO"
 SVr4, 4.3BSD, C89, C99.
 .SH NOTES
diff --git a/man3/ftime.3 b/man3/ftime.3
index ce01574..2304b9a 100644
--- a/man3/ftime.3
+++ b/man3/ftime.3
@@ -36,8 +36,8 @@ ftime \- return date and time
 .sp
 .BI "int ftime(struct timeb *" tp );
 .SH DESCRIPTION
-This function returns the current time, in seconds and milliseconds
-since the Epoch (00:00:00 UTC, 1 January 1970).
+This function returns the current time as seconds and milliseconds
+since the Epoch, 1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 (UTC).
 The time is returned in
 .IR tp ,
 which is declared as follows:
diff --git a/man3/getspnam.3 b/man3/getspnam.3
index fdfc1fb..d4ca057 100644
--- a/man3/getspnam.3
+++ b/man3/getspnam.3
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ struct spwd {
    char *sp_namp;     /* Login name */
    char *sp_pwdp;     /* Encrypted password */
    long  sp_lstchg;   /* Date of last change (measured
-                          in days since 1 Jan 1970) */
+                          in days since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 (UTC)) */
    long  sp_min;      /* Min # of days between changes */
    long  sp_max;      /* Max # of days between changes */
    long  sp_warn;     /* # of days before password expires
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ struct spwd {
    long  sp_inact;    /* # of days after password expires
                          until account is disabled */
    long  sp_expire;   /* Date when account expires (measured
-                          in days since 1 Jan 1970) */
+                          in days since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 (UTC)) */
    unsigned long sp_flag;  /* Reserved */
 };
 .fi
diff --git a/man3/mq_receive.3 b/man3/mq_receive.3
index 32343a0..9a55812 100644
--- a/man3/mq_receive.3
+++ b/man3/mq_receive.3
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ flag is not enabled for the message queue description, then
 points to a structure which specifies a ceiling on the time for which
 the call will block.
 This ceiling is an absolute timeout in seconds and nanoseconds
-since the Epoch (midnight on the morning of 1 January 1970),
+since the Epoch, 1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 (UTC), and it is
 specified in the following structure:
 .sp
 .in +4n
diff --git a/man3/mq_send.3 b/man3/mq_send.3
index 3271d88..52eda2a 100644
--- a/man3/mq_send.3
+++ b/man3/mq_send.3
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ flag is not enabled for the message queue description, then
 points to a structure which specifies a ceiling on the time for which
 the call will block.
 This ceiling is an absolute timeout in seconds and nanoseconds
-since the Epoch (midnight on the morning of 1 January 1970),
+since the Epoch, 1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 (UTC), and it is
 specified in the following structure:
 .sp
 .in +4n
diff --git a/man3/rtime.3 b/man3/rtime.3
index 24be759..cd84f44 100644
--- a/man3/rtime.3
+++ b/man3/rtime.3
@@ -22,8 +22,8 @@ RFC\ 868 to obtain the time from a remote machine.
 The Time Server Protocol gives the time in seconds since
 00:00:00 UTC, 1 Jan 1900,
 and this function subtracts the appropriate constant in order to
-convert the result to seconds since
-00:00:00 UTC, 1 Jan 1970, the Unix Epoch.
+convert the result to seconds since the Epoch,
+1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 (UTC).
 .LP
 When
 .I timeout
diff --git a/man3/sem_wait.3 b/man3/sem_wait.3
index 526f57d..062e436 100644
--- a/man3/sem_wait.3
+++ b/man3/sem_wait.3
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ should block if the decrement cannot be immediately performed.
 The
 .I abs_timeout
 argument points to a structure that specifies an absolute timeout
-in seconds and nanoseconds since the Epoch (00:00:00, 1 January 1970).
+in seconds and nanoseconds since the Epoch, 1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 (UTC).
 This structure is defined as follows:

 .nf
diff --git a/man3/strftime.3 b/man3/strftime.3
index ee7b097..89b3a32 100644
--- a/man3/strftime.3
+++ b/man3/strftime.3
@@ -187,8 +187,7 @@ For a version including the seconds, see
 below.
 .TP
 .B %s
-The number of seconds since the Epoch, that is, since 1970-01-01
-00:00:00 UTC. (TZ)
+The number of seconds since the Epoch, 1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 (UTC). (TZ)
 .TP
 .B %S
 The second as a decimal number (range 00 to 60).
diff --git a/man3/strptime.3 b/man3/strptime.3
index aaba1d1..37b5fcb 100644
--- a/man3/strptime.3
+++ b/man3/strptime.3
@@ -374,8 +374,7 @@ is accepted as a synonym for
 Finally
 .TP
 .B %s
-The number of seconds since the Epoch,
-that is, since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC.
+The number of seconds since the Epoch, 1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 (UTC).
 Leap seconds are not counted unless leap second support is available.
 .LP
 The glibc implementation does not require whitespace between
diff --git a/man3/timeradd.3 b/man3/timeradd.3
index 869b9e7..67a7fb5 100644
--- a/man3/timeradd.3
+++ b/man3/timeradd.3
@@ -96,8 +96,7 @@ zeros out the
 .I timeval
 structure pointed to by
 .IR tvp ,
-so that it represents the time at midnight
-on the morning of 1 January 1970 (the Epoch).
+so that it represents the Epoch: 1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 (UTC).

 .BR timerisset ()
 returns true (non-zero) if either field of the
diff --git a/man4/rtc.4 b/man4/rtc.4
index c4578b3..77ba983 100644
--- a/man4/rtc.4
+++ b/man4/rtc.4
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ and
 .BR time (2),
 as well as setting timestamps on files, etc.
 The system clock reports seconds and microseconds since a start point,
-defined to be the POSIX Epoch: Jan 1, 1970, 0:00 UTC.
+defined to be the POSIX Epoch: 1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 (UTC).
 (One common implementation counts timer interrupts, once
 per "jiffy", at a frequency of 100, 250, or 1000 Hz.)
 That is, it is supposed to report wall clock time, which RTCs also do.
diff --git a/man5/core.5 b/man5/core.5
index 886e88a..2d417f0 100644
--- a/man5/core.5
+++ b/man5/core.5
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ PID of dumped process
 number of signal causing dump
 .TP
 %t
-time of dump, expressed as seconds since the Epoch (00:00h, 1\ Jan 1970, UTC)
+time of dump, expressed as seconds since the Epoch, 1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 (UTC)
 .TP
 %h
 hostname (same as \fInodename\fP returned by \fBuname\fP(2))
diff --git a/man5/proc.5 b/man5/proc.5
index 3da30af..a9b24ff 100644
--- a/man5/proc.5
+++ b/man5/proc.5
@@ -1683,7 +1683,7 @@ each subsequent column is the total for a particular interrupt.
 The number of context switches that the system underwent.
 .TP
 \fIbtime 769041601\fP
-boot time, in seconds since the Epoch (January 1, 1970).
+boot time, in seconds since the Epoch, 1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 (UTC).
 .TP
 \fIprocesses 86031\fP
 Number of forks since boot.
diff --git a/man7/icmp.7 b/man7/icmp.7
index c5b676a..e777023 100644
--- a/man7/icmp.7
+++ b/man7/icmp.7
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ routing table and the redirect routes are expired after some time.
 .PP
 The 64-bit timestamp returned by
 .B ICMP_TIMESTAMP
-is in milliseconds since January 1, 1970.
+is in milliseconds since the Epoch, 1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 (UTC).
 .PP
 Linux ICMP internally uses a raw socket to send ICMPs.
 This raw socket may appear in
diff --git a/man7/time.7 b/man7/time.7
index 69c08cd..7c22da0 100644
--- a/man7/time.7
+++ b/man7/time.7
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ HRTs are not supported on all hardware architectures.
 .SS "The Epoch"
 Unix systems represent time in seconds since the
 .IR Epoch ,
-which is defined as 0:00:00 UTC on the morning of 1 January 1970.
+1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 (UTC).

 A program can determine the
 .I "calendar time"
--
1.6.6.102.gd6f8f


-- 
Michael Kerrisk
Linux man-pages maintainer; http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/
Author of "The Linux Programming Interface" http://blog.man7.org/
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