MirBSD manpage: time(3)

TIME(3)                    BSD Programmer's Manual                     TIME(3)

NAME

     time - get time of day

SYNOPSIS

     #include <time.h>

     time_t
     time(time_t *tloc);

DESCRIPTION

     The time() function returns the value of time in seconds since 0 hours, 0
     minutes, 0 seconds, January 1, 1970 ("the Epoch"), Temps Atomique Inter-
     national (TAI), counting leap seconds.

     A copy of the time value may be saved to the area indicated by the
     pointer tloc. If tloc is a null pointer, no value is stored.

     Upon successful completion, time() returns the value of time. Otherwise a
     value of (time_t)-1 is returned and the global variable errno is set to
     indicate the error.

ERRORS

     The following error codes may be set in errno:

     [EFAULT]      An argument address referenced invalid memory.

SEE ALSO

     gettimeofday(2), ctime(3)

HISTORY

     A time() function appeared in Version 2 AT&T UNIX and used to return time
     in sixtieths of a second in 32 bits, which was to guarantee a crisis
     every 2.26 years. Since Version 6 AT&T UNIX, time() scale was changed to
     seconds, extending the pre-crisis stagnation period up to a total of 68
     years.

     On MirBSD, the value equals the kernel time, or the result of
     gettimeofday(2) with no timezone information provided. Counting leap
     seconds, instead of jumping over them, while calculating the result,
     violates POSIX, but is the only way to get legal and lawful time.

     Since MirBSD #8, the time_t type has been extended to 64 bit in order to
     prevent the year 2036 and 2038 crisises.

MirBSD #10-current               June 4, 1993                                1