[JDEV] Message timestamping and route tracking

[Jon A. Cruz]

Jeff wrote:

>         Forgive my foolishness, but couldn't we use something like they
> use on IRC for ping times?  They use the number of seconds from Jan 1,
> 1970 (or something, I am not sure whenthe date is) GMT to calculate dates
> andn times.  This way, we don't have to deal with time zones or anything
> like that.  Granted each instance of Jabber would have to know which time
> zone it was in, or what the current time in Greenwich is, but I think this
> a relativly small problem compared with all of the complication involved
> withi the other methods discussed.
>

Well, one problem is that number of seconds will wrap at the year 2035 or
2038 depending on your platform and use. But more than that, whether we send
"number of seconds" or "date in text format" we are in effect sending the
same information, and time zones still have to be dealt with. GTM in text
format with optional time offset is probably best, as it keeps things both
machine and human readable.

Just look at your message's headers for an example:
Date: Tue, 5 Oct 1999 11:15:53 -0400 (EDT)

--
"My new computer's got the clocks, it rocks
But it was obsolete before I opened the box" - W.A.Y.