[ntp:questions] Re: Leap second talks are postponed

Richard B. Gilbert rgilbert88 at comcast.net
Mon Nov 21 01:33:45 UTC 2005


Johan Swenker wrote:

>>Me too!. With todays computerised economy. Are you sure all financial
>>systems handle transactions during a leap second event correctly. 30
>>years ago this was no problem. A human would not be tricked, but the
>>computer program must take explicit care of all corner cases.
>>    
>>
>
>I am not sure that financial systems will handle transactions during a
>leap second event correctly. But I am sure about a leap hour: most
>financial systems will horrendously break. By the way a leap hour
>greatly differs from a summertime <-> wintertime shift.
>
>Johan
>  
>
I believe that the requirement, in the US, for time stamping financial 
transactions is +/- 2 seconds.   Even if a system fails to handle a leap 
second properly, it should still be within specification.

How many systems do not handle leap seconds correctly?  I would expect 
most of the major operating systems, with the possible exception of 
Windows, to handle leap seconds properly.




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