[Tfug] A sense of time

[Bexley Hall]

> I read this like 4 times, and I still don't
understand 
> what the hell you're talking about, 

That's OK... neither do *I*! :>

> but i'll take a stab at it. :) I'm assuming you're
> talking in terms of Unix, and you have an
uncooperative 
> group of users.

No.  But, the same problems apply to *any* system that
maintains a sense of time.  Un*x boxen sidestep the
problem by making the setting of the current time
a privileged action.  They push the problem of these
time paradoxes into the hands of the system
administrator
(i.e., hoping he/she will exercise care when dicking
with
the time of day clock) *and*, at the end of the day,
if
sh*t happens, then users are hopefully savvy enough to
understand that the timestamp of 6 Sep 2025 on that
file in their directory is obviously bogus (and, as
long as they have no particular *care* about the
ACTUAL 
time at which the file was created/modified/accessed,
then they can just ignore it or touch(1) it...).

> If you have a system that allows your users to
modify 
> what time it is, your system is broken..

Assuming you are talking about a (generic) computer 
"system" (there are other types of "systems"  :> )

> If you have a system where users can modify
timestamps
> of files, write a wrapper script for the command
they 
> use, and log the time of the change against the
value 
> the user has tried to provide. If it exceeds a
certain 
> amount, toss a notification and tell the user If you
> can't do either, write a script that keeps the box 
> forcibly synced with an external time source, track 
> any changes that occur, and just roll them back as 
> they pop up. 


       
____________________________________________________________________________________
Got a little couch potato? 
Check out fun summer activities for kids.
http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=oni_on_mail&p=summer+activities+for+kids&cs=bz