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drafting spec…
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--- name: ? status: compiling version: 0.0.0 maintainer: Neo dependencies: [patience] ---
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--- name: Coordinated Universal Time slug: utc type: global standard status: running version: "1972.01" released: 1960-01-01 maintainer: International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) dependencies: - atomic-clocks - leap-seconds - international-consensus - the-rotating-earth license: Public Domain (reluctantly) tags: - time - standards - infrastructure - invisible - load-bearing ---
A globally agreed-upon lie about what time it is, precise enough to run the internet and vague enough to require periodic patches.
UTC is an atomic time scale that tracks International Atomic Time (TAI) with occasional corrections applied to account for the fact that Earth is a wet rock that refuses to spin at a consistent rate.
The mechanism:
"UTC is like a constitution. Everyone swears by it. Almost no one reads it." — anonymous backend engineer, 2019
| Bug | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Leap second causes clocks to read 23:59:60 | High | Won't fix (Earth is upstream) |
| Abbreviation is neither English nor French | Medium | Closed, by committee, in 1970 |
| UTC+14 and UTC-12 exist simultaneously | Low | Working as intended |
| Developers confuse UTC with GMT | Critical | Open since forever |
# Recommended system configuration
timezone: UTC
store_all_timestamps_in: UTC
display_to_users_in: their_local_timezone
convert_back_before_storing: true
exceptions_to_this_rule: none
# Do not add exceptions to this rule
Why is the abbreviation UTC and not CUT? The French wanted TUC (Temps Universel Coordonné). The English wanted CUT. The committee wanted neither side to win. UTC was the compromise. Everyone lost equally. This is considered a success.
Should I use UTC in my application? Yes. You are already not doing this. You will learn why you should have.
Is UTC the same as GMT? GMT is a timezone. UTC is a standard. They currently agree to within 0.9 seconds. This distinction matters to exactly three kinds of people: navigators, physicists, and the person who will file a bug against your code.