From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG  Fri Oct 10 03:06:02 2008
Return-Path: <owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG>
Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org
Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34])
	by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D4F9B1065686
	for <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org>;
	Fri, 10 Oct 2008 03:06:02 +0000 (UTC)
	(envelope-from mdh_lists@yahoo.com)
Received: from web56806.mail.re3.yahoo.com (web56806.mail.re3.yahoo.com
	[66.196.97.80]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 6BA378FC28
	for <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org>;
	Fri, 10 Oct 2008 03:06:02 +0000 (UTC)
	(envelope-from mdh_lists@yahoo.com)
Received: (qmail 65306 invoked by uid 60001); 10 Oct 2008 03:06:01 -0000
DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=s1024; d=yahoo.com;
	h=X-YMail-OSG:Received:X-Mailer:Date:From:Reply-To:Subject:To:In-Reply-To:MIME-Version:Content-Type:Message-ID;
	b=UvYdc3Ig5RtjsCk1Vgk0xC8zDPOJplrAS0IO/KZlwGZeTJZ06mhvuhZiSI2T/mGX/dPXGCqfJAj/L8BKGRqsBi7Ruxy8Zaptx22ygcMbSzu/GBSFzIsBPx5DOIBclzUomwaHL+wQDwIb3qbGa6Z892DGbeF4MVJouCImNIcfX4M=;
X-YMail-OSG: 9H8L6EAVM1naHGuurQT_BWEYkMjOKfg5uhfSrmzN77FvIDO8FOp3_Qq80z1FZjjhkV067fVChUmEBsHHaC6ksVhKN77AWUKmBS6v793a7G4._f5mJBBV8l5KbNKixC_LQeENa7peaw4_CyC2JVeYRVdmu5RJJg0sVjOoolfiVhDSpVyRsdz_HyE0ipuS8w--
Received: from [71.61.220.126] by web56806.mail.re3.yahoo.com via HTTP;
	Thu, 09 Oct 2008 20:06:01 PDT
X-Mailer: YahooMailWebService/0.7.218.2
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2008 20:06:01 -0700 (PDT)
From: mdh <mdh_lists@yahoo.com>
To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org
In-Reply-To: <48EEA4B3.3050707@gmail.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Message-ID: <958963.64003.qm@web56806.mail.re3.yahoo.com>
Cc: 
Subject: Re: uptime 2 years!
X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5
Precedence: list
Reply-To: mdh_lists@yahoo.com
List-Id: User questions <freebsd-questions.freebsd.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions>, 
	<mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-questions>
List-Post: <mailto:freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
List-Help: <mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions>, 
	<mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 03:06:02 -0000

--- On Thu, 10/9/08, Eitan Adler <eitanadlerlist@gmail.com> wrote:
> From: Eitan Adler <eitanadlerlist@gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: uptime 2 years!
> To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org
> Date: Thursday, October 9, 2008, 8:41 PM
> Lowell Gilbert wrote:
> [snip]
> > And in theory it should be possible to change time_t
> to unsigned, and
> > get another two-thirds of a century out of it...
> > 
> However this would break binary compatibility with anything
> compiled 
> before the change.

One thing to consider is that changing any signed value to an unsigned value then prevents functions which return that type from returning -1 (or otherwise <0) to indicate an error condition.  Even if it doesn't affect anything at all in the base system, it could impact untold sums of software developed not in the base system. 
- mdh