122 lines
3.2 KiB
Groff
122 lines
3.2 KiB
Groff
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.TH TIME2POSIX 3
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.SH NAME
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time2posix, posix2time \- convert seconds since the Epoch
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.SH SYNOPSIS
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.nf
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.B #include <sys/types.h>
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.B #include <time.h>
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.PP
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.B time_t time2posix(t)
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.B time_t t
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.PP
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.B time_t posix2time(t)
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.B time_t t
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.PP
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.B cc ... -ltz
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.fi
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.SH DESCRIPTION
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IEEE Standard 1003.1
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(POSIX)
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legislates that a time_t value of
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536457599 shall correspond to "Wed Dec 31 23:59:59 UTC 1986."
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This effectively implies that POSIX time_t's cannot include leap
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seconds and,
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therefore,
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that the system time must be adjusted as each leap occurs.
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.PP
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If the time package is configured with leap-second support
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enabled,
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however,
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no such adjustment is needed and
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time_t values continue to increase over leap events
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(as a true `seconds since...' value).
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This means that these values will differ from those required by POSIX
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by the net number of leap seconds inserted since the Epoch.
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.PP
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Typically this is not a problem as the type time_t is intended
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to be
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(mostly)
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opaque\(emtime_t values should only be obtained-from and
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passed-to functions such as
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.IR time(2) ,
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.IR localtime(3) ,
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.IR mktime(3) ,
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and
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.IR difftime(3) .
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However,
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POSIX gives an arithmetic
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expression for directly computing a time_t value from a given date/time,
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and the same relationship is assumed by some
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(usually older)
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applications.
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Any programs creating/dissecting time_t's
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using such a relationship will typically not handle intervals
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over leap seconds correctly.
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.PP
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The
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.I time2posix
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and
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.I posix2time
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functions are provided to address this time_t mismatch by converting
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between local time_t values and their POSIX equivalents.
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This is done by accounting for the number of time-base changes that
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would have taken place on a POSIX system as leap seconds were inserted
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or deleted.
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These converted values can then be used in lieu of correcting the older
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applications,
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or when communicating with POSIX-compliant systems.
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.PP
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.I Time2posix
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is single-valued.
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That is,
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every local time_t
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corresponds to a single POSIX time_t.
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.I Posix2time
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is less well-behaved:
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for a positive leap second hit the result is not unique,
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and for a negative leap second hit the corresponding
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POSIX time_t doesn't exist so an adjacent value is returned.
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Both of these are good indicators of the inferiority of the
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POSIX representation.
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.PP
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The following table summarizes the relationship between a time
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T and it's conversion to,
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and back from,
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the POSIX representation over the leap second inserted at the end of June,
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1993.
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.nf
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.ta \w'93/06/30 'u +\w'23:59:59 'u +\w'A+0 'u +\w'X=time2posix(T) 'u
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DATE TIME T X=time2posix(T) posix2time(X)
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93/06/30 23:59:59 A+0 B+0 A+0
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93/06/30 23:59:60 A+1 B+1 A+1 or A+2
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93/07/01 00:00:00 A+2 B+1 A+1 or A+2
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93/07/01 00:00:01 A+3 B+2 A+3
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A leap second deletion would look like...
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DATE TIME T X=time2posix(T) posix2time(X)
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??/06/30 23:59:58 A+0 B+0 A+0
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??/07/01 00:00:00 A+1 B+2 A+1
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??/07/01 00:00:01 A+2 B+3 A+2
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.sp
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.ce
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[Note: posix2time(B+1) => A+0 or A+1]
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.fi
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.PP
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If leap-second support is not enabled,
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local time_t's and
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POSIX time_t's are equivalent,
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and both
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.I time2posix
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and
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.I posix2time
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degenerate to the identity function.
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.SH SEE ALSO
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difftime(3),
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localtime(3),
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mktime(3),
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time(2)
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.\" @(#)time2posix.3 7.8
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.\" This file is in the public domain, so clarified as of
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.\" 1996-06-05 by Arthur David Olson.
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