Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/13/unix_time_milestone/
Unix world braces for geekgasm
POSIX clock g-spot
Posted in Operating Systems, 13th February 2009 21:58 GMT
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Updated The world's digit-obsessed UNIX lovers are just minutes away from the celebration of a lifetime. At 11:31:30pm UTC time today, the POSIX clock reaches 1234567890 seconds.
Widely used by UNIX and UNIX-based OSes - including Linux and Apple's Mac OS X - the POSIX clock measures the time elapsed since 00:00:00 UTC January 1, 1970 (minus leap seconds [1]). That's the beginning of the UNIX Epoch. Just because UNIX people say it is.
You can obsessively watch the countdown to 1234567890 over at the Cool Epoch Countdown [2] - though countdown may be the wrong word. The site also points the way to some epic Epoch humor [3].
According to 1234567890 Day [4], countless 1234567890 parties are set to whoop it up across the planet - though countless may be the wrong word.
As we've said before [5], the world will not end at 1234567890 UNIX time. Unless coincidence strikes. The Unixalypse will come in 2038, when UNIX machines using 32-bit signed integers will suddenly forget they're UNIX machines. ®
Update
We can confirm that the POSIX clock reached 1234567890 - and that the world did not end.