Epic Epoch
The time is quickly approaching where the number of seconds since the UNIX Epoch will reach 1234567890 – something pattern lovers everywhere will appreciate. If you are on a BSD (or Mac OS X) system, run `date -r 1234567890` to see the exact localized time this will occur. For me, it was February 13 at approximately 6:31 PM Eastern time.
While fun, it refreshes my memory of the 2038 problem some embedded UNIX systems may not have been patched to prevent, but it doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy something like this for a moment – its the top row of the keyboard, for crying out loud!
And for those unaware of what the UNIX epoch is, it was the time (January 1, 1970 at 00:00:00) when most UNIX systems began to keep track of time (in layman’s terms), giving birth to what we now refer to as UTC. System logs, kernel messages, and even the query string at a university internet filter (Bess) all refer to this number as the standard for time-basis, and although Microsoft Windows may not visibly refer to it, the UNIX/Linux-driven networks and embedded systems around us all refer to this time system as the internal time basis.
Traditionally stored as a 32-bit integer (time_t typedef’d) it is now starting to be implemented by 64-bit integers in order to prevent the shift to the year 2038 resetting the timer on systems back to 1970, and although most up-to-date UNIX/Linux systems have this issue patched, some legacy embedded systems may still store this in 32 bits, affecting any applications based on this time (allowing for some potential security risks as well but generally unlikely).
So, sit back, relax, and on the night before Valentine’s day enjoy the event any math/pattern-minded person/nerd will enjoy, if only for a second.