The Unix Millennium Bug or Y2K38

telcodad

We all survived Y2K, but will there be a Unix ‘Epochalypse’ in 2038?

There’s going to be an ‘epochalypse’ in 2038 that could seriously affect aeroplanes, cars and smartphones
The ‘year 2038 problem’ is set to take place on 19 January 2038
By Anish Vij, LADbible - May 1, 2025
https://www.ladbible.com/news/technology/epochalypse-year-2038-problem-594523-20250501

In just over 10 years we will face an ‘epochalypse’.

Known as the ‘year 2038 problem’, experts say it could affect billions of devices worldwide.

What is the ‘year 2038 problem’?
Also referred to as the Unix Millennium Bug or Y2K38, it’s essentially a computer time representation issue caused by the limitations of how time is stored in a device, which runs the Unix operating system.

So basically, when engineers were inputting the time into the Unix operating system, there was a [limitation] on the function for any given device to accurately tell the time past 19 January 2038.

What will happen on 19 January 2038?
Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer of the Finnish antivirus firm F-Secure, says the epochalypse can have much worse consequences than being unable to tell the time, as reported by Tom’s Guide: https://www.tomsguide.com/us/2038-bug-bh2017%2Cnews-25551.html

“Try changing your phone’s calendar to 2039,” Hyponnen said. “You can’t.” …..

Zer0Cool

We’ll live but a lot of stuff will stop working becuase people refuse to do the required things to updated outdated hardware

Somewhat-Reticent

Zer0Cool
because people refuse to … updated outdated ~~hardware~~ software.

Bry

64-bit machines are starting to see more use in IoT/embedded, and 64-bit has been on client/desktop/servers for decades now. But there will be some legacy 32-bit devices running around that time, but hopefully they are phased out to avoid much disruption.

As with the real Y2K, it was real but the work done by engineers tirelessly behind the scenes made it less apparent.

OpenBSD 5.5 switched over to 64-bit time_t back in 2014 on all 32-bit platforms, it was the theme of the release.

https://www.openbsd.org/55.html
https://www.openbsd.org/lyrics.html#55

Linux still hasn’t even fully completed this transition due to the ABI break involved.

iahawkeye83

Zer0Cool the supermarket chain I work for is using POS software that is older than some of the kids who work there. They finally just released a patch to the software that now requires us to input the four digit year for age sensitive products. They should have done that years ago. People born on or before today’s date in 2004 are now old enough to buy alcohol (or depending on the state) cigarettes. Some states it’s still 18 but Mass it’s 21. But if I enter 11/13/04 it might think it’s 11/19/1904 and the customer is 120 years old and allow the alcohol sale to proceed. But now that we do 4 digits for the year (mm/dd/yyyy) it would see that the customer is only 20 years old and the alcohol goes back on the shelf. We don’t scan IDs where I work but you must show ID regardless of your age in Massachusetts. And yes I have carded people born prior to the start of the Great Depression.

And corporations are not like teenagers who upgrade their phones every time a new version comes out or who have a gaming PC that is worth more than my car, they run equipment and software well beyond its useful service life. I’ve dealt with broken equipment. And the touchscreens you literally have to smash your fingers into them to get them to work. They only fix things when forced to (like a failed weights and measures inspection) or when it becomes a liability (such as being a risk of or causing a data breach). Data breach risks are the reasons that they upgrade payment card terminals every few years. Data breaches are a liability and can be an even bigger liability when the company was negligent.