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Re: [openpgp] time representation in OpenPGP

2016-07-05 03:17:07
On Sun,  3 Jul 2016 15:48, rsalz(_at_)akamai(_dot_)com said:

Isn't that the classic Unix time_t, which expires in 2038?

Only with 32 bit signed time_t.  The C standard declares time_t as
implementation defined and thus it can also be an unsigned 32 bit int or
64 bit.  The only requirement is that (time_t)(-1) is used as an error
return value.

I suggest we use ASN1 generalized time (which has only a couple of
bytes overhead) or ISO 8601 profiled to be like the ASN1 format:
YYYY-MM-DD-HH:MM:SS.sss with fraction optional.

Due to real world problems, I use the compact 8601 representation ot
time for GnuPG's X.509 part: "20160704T100951" makes a nice 16 bytes
buffer (with the string terminator) and can be easily printed.  However,
using a buffer is not very convenient compared to a scalar like time_t.
And you need to write a lot of code for basic operations (consider a
wrong encoded string).

That does not mean, I would suggest to use such a string in OpenPGP
which has been designed as a compact binary protocol.


Salam-Shalom,

   Werner


-- 
Die Gedanken sind frei.  Ausnahmen regelt ein Bundesgesetz.
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