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Comment by ddoolin | Hacker News Reader

Why was it 32 bits to begin with? Wasn't it known that 2038 would be the cutoff?

It has been that way since Unix V4 which released in 1973. Back then moving to something that breaks after 65 years was a massive upgrade over the old format that wrapped after two and a half years. And at least from the standpoint of Unix engineers 32 bits was more than enough: Nobody is using Unix V4 in production in 2024, never mind 2038.

Why it made it into Posix and wasn't updated is a different question that's a bit more difficult to answer

It was not exactly a big concern when this was designed in early 70s, especially when you consider that Unix itself was kind of a hack at the time.

In the 1970s people probably would have laughed at the idea that Unix would still be running in the year 2038.

I get that; I am surprised to find my own software running 7 years later, let alone ~60 and given the context.

well sometimes the old stuff is better than the new stuff. it really is hilarious though. things in the software world have regressed in some ways especially when it comes to privacy and locking down data.

Ultimately probably hardware? I suspect it’s also been like this for a long time.

Yeah when you RAM sizes are measured in KB or low MB and your processor has not support for 64-bit integers you tend to think about works now instead of what will still work in 60 years.

Why is it 64 bit now? Isn't it know that 292277026596 would be the cutoff?

The sun will have died by then so we will have bigger problems. Slightly different timespan than 60 years where some people will be able to experience both the start and the end.

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