Portable general timestamp format, not 2038-limited

[sla29970 at gmail.com]

On Jun 26, 2:17 pm, Paul Rubin <http://phr...@NOSPAM.invalid> wrote:
> Martin Gregorie <mar... at see.sig.for.address> writes:
> > > Same one already given:http://cr.yp.to/proto/utctai.html
> > <picky_mode>
> > Nope - you referencedleap seconds, not TAI and not that URL
>
> Oh whoops, I thought I put that url further up in the thread.
> I remember grumbling to myself about having to look for it twice.
> Maybe I'm just confused.  Anyway it's pretty interesting stuff,
> as is the Wikipedia article someone else linked to.

Keep in mind that TAI is not legal time anywhere.  It is also not
practical, for the TAI now is not available until next month.

>From a legal standpoint, either UTC or GMT (or both, if you read
different languages in the EU documents) as kept by your national
metrology lab is is the official time.  Despite the way the math looks
and the way the physics seems like it ought to dictate, TAI is derived
from UTC, not the other way around.  The national metrology labs are
tasked to provide GMT or UTC as part of their charter, so that is
*procedurally* the primary time scale.

Also note the "discussion" link on wikipedia's TAI page before
believing it too much.