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The Y2K38 bug presents the same situation. Unix (and Linux) clocks rely time in seconds, ranging from January 1, 1970, which was dubbed the Unix Epoch, and a few programs retailer that quantity in a signed 32-bit integer which is able to overflow at (brace your self) exactly 03:14:07 UTC on January 19, 2038. When it does so, clocks will revert to December 1901.
Epochalypse now?
The truth is, it’s already a real mess that’s hitting programs, akin to pension fund projections, that look into the longer term past that magic second in 2038.
Stated mess gained’t have an effect on fashionable 64-bit programs, after all — their dates are saved in 64-bit variables, good for greater than 292 billion years. However legacy and embedded programs are in danger, therefore the work by Debian and different distros. Every thing from plant management programs and constructing monitoring programs to routers and safety cameras are operating some kind of embedded working system, and for a lot of, it’s 32-bit Linux. These programs usually stay in service for many years with out alternative, making a software program repair a necessity. It’s one other instance how the failure to take {hardware} and software program longevity under consideration can come again to chew us.
The treatment: altering date storage to 64-bit variables. It was a massive task for Debian maintainers, involving virtually 6,500 packages, and all of it needed to occur at one time as a result of it additionally concerned a change to the applying binary interface (ABI). However Debian says the work is full, or not less than, as full because it’s going to get for now. To make sure compatibility with x86 binaries, it’s leaving dates on i386 programs as 32-bit, though it’s contemplating choices if there’s sufficient demand for 64-bit dates on these programs.
It might appear that the overflow remains to be a far-off drawback however, “As of 2025, that is much less that 13 years away, and loads of programs that may have issues have already been shipped,” Debian mentioned in a post about the issue. “We must always cease including to the issue. Most computing, particularly computing utilizing Debian or its derivatives, is now accomplished on 64-bit {hardware} the place this situation doesn’t come up. Nonetheless there’s various cost-sensitive 32-bit computing nonetheless on the market, and nonetheless transport in new gadgets (automotive, IoT, TVs, routers, plant management, constructing monitoring/management, low-cost Android telephones and many others.), with a few of that {hardware} most likely operating Debian or its derivatives.”
That is notably essential as a result of many different Linux distros, together with RedHat and Fedora, have already dropped 32-bit help, and SUSE’s help is unofficial, leaving the Debian ecosystem to hold a big a part of the 32-bit load.