Re: [PATCH 1/1] Y2038: add function __difftime64

[Zack Weinberg <zackw@panix.com>]

On Thu, Jul 5, 2018 at 2:36 PM, Albert ARIBAUD <albert.aribaud@3adev.fr> wrote:
> I have had a look at gnulib in the meantime, and I would like to know
> if the following assumptions are correct:

I can't comment on anything else at all, but:

> - gnulib does not contain any module which provides the time_t type, but
>   some of gnulib's modules assume there is such a type, and it might be
>   wider than 32 bits.
>
> - gnulib does not provide difftime either, so ATM a difftime patch
>   would only make sense in glibc, not gnulib.

<time.h> has always been required to declare a type named time_t and a
function named difftime, ever since the original C standard in 1989.
So it makes sense for gnulib not to provide either, and to assume they
exist.

In the original C standard time_t is only required to be "an
arithmetic type capable of representing times".  That means it could
be any size of integer or floating-point.   This has not changed as of
C11 -- the term "arithmetic type" changed to "real type" because of
the addition of complex numbers, but that's all.  POSIX adds the
additional guarantee that time_t is an integer type, but still says
nothing about how wide it is.

zw