Re: [bug-gnulib] time64: 64-bit variants of gmtime, mktime, localtime etc?

[Bruno Haible]

Paul Eggert wrote:
> The main reason I want 64-bit time_t is so that my apps can stat any
> file without getting EOVERFLOW. ... on 32-bit platforms

If the time_t type is smaller than the type used for timestamps in the
particular filesystem, you can get EOVERFLOW during stat().

If, on the other hand, the time_t type is larger than the one used in the
filesystem, you can get EOVERFLOW during utime().

And you cannot set time_t to be the same size as on all filesystems, since
filesystems differ.

So, either way, you have an opportunity for EOVERFLOW. If a system makes
the opposite choice than all other systems, it creates many possible
bugs and security problems in various applications.

Bruno