Coordinated Universal Time with Smoothed Leap Seconds (UTC-SLS)
draft-kuhn-leapsecond-00
Document | Type |
Expired Internet-Draft
(individual)
Expired & archived
|
|
---|---|---|---|
Author | Markus Kuhn | ||
Last updated | 2006-01-18 | ||
RFC stream | (None) | ||
Intended RFC status | (None) | ||
Formats | |||
Stream | Stream state | (No stream defined) | |
Consensus boilerplate | Unknown | ||
RFC Editor Note | (None) | ||
IESG | IESG state | Expired | |
Telechat date | (None) | ||
Responsible AD | (None) | ||
Send notices to | (None) |
This Internet-Draft is no longer active. A copy of the expired Internet-Draft is available in these formats:
Abstract
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the international standard timescale used in many Internet protocols. UTC features occasional single-second adjustments, known as "leap seconds". These happen at the end of announced UTC days, in the form of either an extra second 23:59:60 or a missing second 23:59:59. Both events need special consideration in UTC-synchronized systems that represent time as a scalar value. This specification defines UTC-SLS, a minor variation of UTC that lacks leap seconds. Instead, UTC-SLS performs an equivalent "smooth" adjustment, during which the rate of the clock temporarily changes by 0.1% for 1000 seconds. UTC-SLS is a drop-in replacement for UTC. UTC-SLS can be generated from the same information as UTC. It can be used with any specification that refers to UTC but lacks provisions for leap seconds. UTC-SLS provides a robust and interoperable way for networked UTC- synchronized clocks to handle leap seconds. By providing UTC-SLS instead of UTC to applications, operating systems can free most application and protocol designers from any need to even know about UTC leap seconds.
Authors
(Note: The e-mail addresses provided for the authors of this Internet-Draft may no longer be valid.)