The Unix epoch was conveniently set to midnight on January 1, 1970. Unix Time is represented by a 32 bit whole number (an integer) that counts seconds from this point going forward into the future, or backward into the past. Unix Time thus spans from 20:45:52 GMT on December 13th 1901 to 3:14:07 GMT on January 19 in 2038.
All computers that still use 32 bit Unix Time will overflow in 2038 -- the "Year 2038 problem." The fix is to store Unix Time in a 64 bit integer. This is already underway in most 64 bit Operating Systems, but many systems may not be updated by 2038.
The Unix epoch was conveniently set to midnight on January 1, 1970. Unix Time is represented by a 32 bit whole number (an integer) that counts seconds from this point going forward into the future, or backward into the past. Unix Time thus spans from 20:45:52 GMT on December 13th 1901 to 3:14:07 GMT on January 19 in 2038.
All computers that still use 32 bit Unix Time will overflow in 2038 -- the "Year 2038 problem." The fix is to store Unix Time in a 64 bit integer. This is already underway in most 64 bit Operating Systems, but many systems may not be updated by 2038.