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diff --git a/contrib/perl5/README.Y2K b/contrib/perl5/README.Y2K deleted file mode 100644 index be7ff51..0000000 --- a/contrib/perl5/README.Y2K +++ /dev/null @@ -1,47 +0,0 @@ -The following information about Perl and the year 2000 is a modified -version of the information that can be found in the Frequently Asked -Question (FAQ) documents. - -Does Perl have a year 2000 problem? Is Perl Y2K compliant? - -Short answer: No, Perl does not have a year 2000 problem. Yes, - Perl is Y2K compliant (whatever that means). The - programmers you've hired to use it, however, probably are - not. If you want perl to complain when your programmers - create programs with certain types of possible year 2000 - problems, a build option allows you to turn on warnings. - -Long answer: The question belies a true understanding of the - issue. Perl is just as Y2K compliant as your pencil - --no more, and no less. Can you use your pencil to write - a non-Y2K-compliant memo? Of course you can. Is that - the pencil's fault? Of course it isn't. - - The date and time functions supplied with perl (gmtime and - localtime) supply adequate information to determine the - year well beyond 2000 (2038 is when trouble strikes for - 32-bit machines). The year returned by these functions - when used in a list context is the year minus 1900. For - years between 1910 and 1999 this happens to be a 2-digit - decimal number. To avoid the year 2000 problem simply do - not treat the year as a 2-digit number. It isn't. - - When gmtime() and localtime() are used in scalar context - they return a timestamp string that contains a fully- - expanded year. For example, $timestamp = - gmtime(1005613200) sets $timestamp to "Tue Nov 13 01:00:00 - 2001". There's no year 2000 problem here. - - That doesn't mean that Perl can't be used to create non- - Y2K compliant programs. It can. But so can your pencil. - It's the fault of the user, not the language. At the risk - of inflaming the NRA: ``Perl doesn't break Y2K, people - do.'' See http://language.perl.com/news/y2k.html for a - longer exposition. - - If you want perl to warn you when it sees a program which - catenates a number with the string "19" -- a common - indication of a year 2000 problem -- build perl using the - Configure option "-Accflags=-DPERL_Y2KWARN". - (See the file INSTALL for more information about building - perl.) |
