Hi August,
On 2022-01-03 11:50:00, you wrote to All:
You misremember. It's X+6 for 2038. The 2038 issue may indeed
be a little niggly issue. :(
...
But indeed 2038 is a real problem for fidonet...
Now.. THAT might be an interesting thing to talk about here.
What systems and processes are likely to fail amidst the 2038
deadline, and what hope is there for continued FTN operations?
Good questions! But this hasn't been investigated generally...
Is anyone working on converting necessary programs to 64bit?
FMail Linux is 64 bits. But it still might suffer the 2038 bug, because of stored data in configuration and other files. I haven't checked it too well.
My understanding is that 2038-matter would affect 32-bit progs
and pcs. That means, my XP machines (and possibly my Win7-
32bit machines) will be non-functional especially for an app
that requires a proper date?
32-bit Programs are more susceptible to this problem, but it isn't just a matter of converting them to 64 bit.
If they treat the time value as an _unsigned_ 32 bit value, they can run happily for another 68 years after 2038. But that has to be tested for software where no source code is available, and no active developpers.
Another matter is the stored file specifications. For instance do the messagebases that are used in fidonet (like Msg, Hudson, JAM, squish, etc...) use these 32 bit time values. You can't just change them, because that would mean breaking compatibility. Maybe it's a job for the FTSC to go through all the current standards, and find the problems?
Yet another matter to consider is, what is the state of fidonet in 2038? In 16 years time I think a lot of the current older generation of sysops will have left one way or another. And will there still be active developpers, who can fix the problems?
Bye, Wilfred.
--- FMail-lnx64 2.1.0.18-B20170815
* Origin: FMail development HQ (2:280/464)