Senior Windows Engineer (TX) Next Step Systems US-TX-Houston Post A Job | Post A Resume

(Received on the suse-announce-e list October 23, 1998--Ed. note.)

S.u.S.E. will keep you informed on Y2K issues on an ongoing basis as we approach the new millenium. The following statement is an update to the Y2K announcement that appeared on our web site earlier this summer.

Technical Information - August 1998

System Programs

The kernel and core tools of Linux and other Unix-like operating systems do not store dates in a two-digit format. Time is counted in number of seconds since January 1, 1970. A 32-bit system such as x86 Linux should thus have no date problems through the year 2038.

The few Linux applications that stored years in two-digit decimal formats were changed a long time ago. S.u.S.E. Linux systems since version 5.2 have tested successfully with system dates after the year 2000. Starting with version 5.2, S.u.S.E. Linux also contains workarounds for some known problems with older BIOS versions.

The "time_t" variable in the kernel must be changed from 32 to 64 bits before the year 2038. After a new compilation, Linux should be prepared for another 292 billion years.

Application Programs

S.u.S.E. Linux is distributed with over 800 software packages, most of which have not been developed by S.u.S.E. This reality makes it impossible for us to test every piece of software we distribute intensively for all possible problems.

However, the most important and most often-used programs are programmed without Y2K errors and have been tested by us. We cannot make this claim for every software package. The following programs, which are only available to us in binary format, have known problems with the transition from December 31, 1999 to January 1, 2000:

• abuse (an arcade game)
• beg (work environment for mocka, a module compiler)
• mapledmo (demo for maple)
• mocka (module compiler)
• simcity (game)
• vse (Visual Slick Edit, a demo for commercial text processing)
• wingz (a demo of an Excel clone)

Guarantees

No Sweeping Guarantees for the S.u.S.E. Linux Distribution

We will continue to provide our customers with the newest information on the topic of the Year 2000 problem. However, we will not make any binding promises about the ability of all programs to run after the year 2000, due to the unique nature of the problem and of our product as free software.

Although we will not give any guarantees nor assume liability, we do not expect any problems. As much as possible, our support team will work to solve difficulties as they arise and provide solutions to you without charge.

Guarantees for the Fundamental Functionality of Systems We Install and Support by Contract

We are prepared to guarantee that the central services will run on all systems installed or to be installed by us by contract. This includes all important server functions, e.g. NFS server, DNS, Samba, ISDN dialup faxserver (Hylafax), Sendmail, News (INN), print server, proxy server, firewall, WWW-Proxy (Squid), ISDN/Modem Dialin, YP/Nis server, Apache, Apache-SSL including PHP/FI, and Novell (mars nwe).

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Bodo Bauer S.u.S.E., Inc fon +1-510-835 7873
bb@suse.com 458 Santa Clara Avenue fax +1-510-835 7875