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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)
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This Internet-Draft is no longer active.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

Markus Kuhn

(Note: The e-mail addresses provided for the authors of this Internet-Draft may no longer be valid.)