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diff --git a/doc/rfc/rfc3339.txt b/doc/rfc/rfc3339.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c4c9c70 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/rfc/rfc3339.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1011 @@ + + + + + + +Network Working Group G. Klyne +Request for Comments: 3339 Clearswift Corporation +Category: Standards Track C. Newman + Sun Microsystems + July 2002 + + + Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps + +Status of this Memo + + This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the + Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for + improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet + Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state + and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. + +Copyright Notice + + Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002). All Rights Reserved. + +Abstract + + This document defines a date and time format for use in Internet + protocols that is a profile of the ISO 8601 standard for + representation of dates and times using the Gregorian calendar. + +Table of Contents + + 1. Introduction ............................................ 2 + 2. Definitions ............................................. 3 + 3. Two Digit Years ......................................... 4 + 4. Local Time .............................................. 4 + 4.1. Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) ...................... 4 + 4.2. Local Offsets ......................................... 5 + 4.3. Unknown Local Offset Convention ....................... 5 + 4.4. Unqualified Local Time ................................ 5 + 5. Date and Time format .................................... 6 + 5.1. Ordering .............................................. 6 + 5.2. Human Readability ..................................... 6 + 5.3. Rarely Used Options ................................... 7 + 5.4. Redundant Information ................................. 7 + 5.5. Simplicity ............................................ 7 + 5.6. Internet Date/Time Format ............................. 8 + 5.7. Restrictions .......................................... 9 + 5.8. Examples ............................................. 10 + 6. References ............................................. 10 + 7. Security Considerations ................................ 11 + + + +Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 1] + +RFC 3339 Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps July 2002 + + + Appendix A. ISO 8601 Collected ABNF ....................... 12 + Appendix B. Day of the Week ............................... 14 + Appendix C. Leap Years .................................... 14 + Appendix D. Leap Seconds ..............................,... 15 + Acknowledgements .......................................... 17 + Authors' Addresses ........................................ 17 + Full Copyright Statement .................................. 18 + +1. Introduction + + Date and time formats cause a lot of confusion and interoperability + problems on the Internet. This document addresses many of the + problems encountered and makes recommendations to improve consistency + and interoperability when representing and using date and time in + Internet protocols. + + This document includes an Internet profile of the ISO 8601 [ISO8601] + standard for representation of dates and times using the Gregorian + calendar. + + There are many ways in which date and time values might appear in + Internet protocols: this document focuses on just one common usage, + viz. timestamps for Internet protocol events. This limited + consideration has the following consequences: + + o All dates and times are assumed to be in the "current era", + somewhere between 0000AD and 9999AD. + + o All times expressed have a stated relationship (offset) to + Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). (This is distinct from some + usage in scheduling applications where a local time and location + may be known, but the actual relationship to UTC may be dependent + on the unknown or unknowable actions of politicians or + administrators. The UTC time corresponding to 17:00 on 23rd March + 2005 in New York may depend on administrative decisions about + daylight savings time. This specification steers well clear of + such considerations.) + + o Timestamps can express times that occurred before the introduction + of UTC. Such timestamps are expressed relative to universal time, + using the best available practice at the stated time. + + o Date and time expressions indicate an instant in time. + Description of time periods, or intervals, is not covered here. + + + + + + + +Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 2] + +RFC 3339 Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps July 2002 + + +2. Definitions + + The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", + "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this + document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [RFC2119]. + + UTC Coordinated Universal Time as maintained by the Bureau + International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM). + + second A basic unit of measurement of time in the + International System of Units. It is defined as the + duration of 9,192,631,770 cycles of microwave light + absorbed or emitted by the hyperfine transition of + cesium-133 atoms in their ground state undisturbed by + external fields. + + minute A period of time of 60 seconds. However, see also the + restrictions in section 5.7 and Appendix D for how + leap seconds are denoted within minutes. + + hour A period of time of 60 minutes. + + day A period of time of 24 hours. + + leap year In the Gregorian calendar, a year which has 366 days. + A leap year is a year whose number is divisible by + four an integral number of times, except that if it is + a centennial year (i.e. divisible by one hundred) it + shall also be divisible by four hundred an integral + number of times. + + ABNF Augmented Backus-Naur Form, a format used to represent + permissible strings in a protocol or language, as + defined in [ABNF]. + + Email Date/Time Format + The date/time format used by Internet Mail as defined + by RFC 2822 [IMAIL-UPDATE]. + + Internet Date/Time Format + The date format defined in section 5 of this document. + + Timestamp This term is used in this document to refer to an + unambiguous representation of some instant in time. + + Z A suffix which, when applied to a time, denotes a UTC + offset of 00:00; often spoken "Zulu" from the ICAO + phonetic alphabet representation of the letter "Z". + + + +Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 3] + +RFC 3339 Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps July 2002 + + + For more information about time scales, see Appendix E of [NTP], + Section 3 of [ISO8601], and the appropriate ITU documents [ITU-R- + TF]. + +3. Two Digit Years + + The following requirements are to address the problems of ambiguity + of 2-digit years: + + o Internet Protocols MUST generate four digit years in dates. + + o The use of 2-digit years is deprecated. If a 2-digit year is + received, it should be accepted ONLY if an incorrect + interpretation will not cause a protocol or processing failure + (e.g. if used only for logging or tracing purposes). + + o It is possible that a program using two digit years will + represent years after 1999 as three digits. This occurs if the + program simply subtracts 1900 from the year and doesn't check + the number of digits. Programs wishing to robustly deal with + dates generated by such broken software may add 1900 to three + digit years. + + o It is possible that a program using two digit years will + represent years after 1999 as ":0", ":1", ... ":9", ";0", ... + This occurs if the program simply subtracts 1900 from the year + and adds the decade to the US-ASCII character zero. Programs + wishing to robustly deal with dates generated by such broken + software should detect non-numeric decades and interpret + appropriately. + + The problems with two digit years amply demonstrate why all dates and + times used in Internet protocols MUST be fully qualified. + +4. Local Time + +4.1. Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) + + Because the daylight saving rules for local time zones are so + convoluted and can change based on local law at unpredictable times, + true interoperability is best achieved by using Coordinated Universal + Time (UTC). This specification does not cater to local time zone + rules. + + + + + + + + +Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 4] + +RFC 3339 Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps July 2002 + + +4.2. Local Offsets + + The offset between local time and UTC is often useful information. + For example, in electronic mail (RFC2822, [IMAIL-UPDATE]) the local + offset provides a useful heuristic to determine the probability of a + prompt response. Attempts to label local offsets with alphabetic + strings have resulted in poor interoperability in the past [IMAIL], + [HOST-REQ]. As a result, RFC2822 [IMAIL-UPDATE] has made numeric + offsets mandatory. + + Numeric offsets are calculated as "local time minus UTC". So the + equivalent time in UTC can be determined by subtracting the offset + from the local time. For example, 18:50:00-04:00 is the same time as + 22:50:00Z. (This example shows negative offsets handled by adding + the absolute value of the offset.) + + NOTE: Following ISO 8601, numeric offsets represent only time + zones that differ from UTC by an integral number of minutes. + However, many historical time zones differ from UTC by a non- + integral number of minutes. To represent such historical time + stamps exactly, applications must convert them to a representable + time zone. + +4.3. Unknown Local Offset Convention + + If the time in UTC is known, but the offset to local time is unknown, + this can be represented with an offset of "-00:00". This differs + semantically from an offset of "Z" or "+00:00", which imply that UTC + is the preferred reference point for the specified time. RFC2822 + [IMAIL-UPDATE] describes a similar convention for email. + +4.4. Unqualified Local Time + + A number of devices currently connected to the Internet run their + internal clocks in local time and are unaware of UTC. While the + Internet does have a tradition of accepting reality when creating + specifications, this should not be done at the expense of + interoperability. Since interpretation of an unqualified local time + zone will fail in approximately 23/24 of the globe, the + interoperability problems of unqualified local time are deemed + unacceptable for the Internet. Systems that are configured with a + local time, are unaware of the corresponding UTC offset, and depend + on time synchronization with other Internet systems, MUST use a + mechanism that ensures correct synchronization with UTC. Some + suitable mechanisms are: + + o Use Network Time Protocol [NTP] to obtain the time in UTC. + + + + +Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 5] + +RFC 3339 Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps July 2002 + + + o Use another host in the same local time zone as a gateway to the + Internet. This host MUST correct unqualified local times that are + transmitted to other hosts. + + o Prompt the user for the local time zone and daylight saving rule + settings. + +5. Date and Time format + + This section discusses desirable qualities of date and time formats + and defines a profile of ISO 8601 for use in Internet protocols. + +5.1. Ordering + + If date and time components are ordered from least precise to most + precise, then a useful property is achieved. Assuming that the time + zones of the dates and times are the same (e.g., all in UTC), + expressed using the same string (e.g., all "Z" or all "+00:00"), and + all times have the same number of fractional second digits, then the + date and time strings may be sorted as strings (e.g., using the + strcmp() function in C) and a time-ordered sequence will result. The + presence of optional punctuation would violate this characteristic. + +5.2. Human Readability + + Human readability has proved to be a valuable feature of Internet + protocols. Human readable protocols greatly reduce the costs of + debugging since telnet often suffices as a test client and network + analyzers need not be modified with knowledge of the protocol. On + the other hand, human readability sometimes results in + interoperability problems. For example, the date format "10/11/1996" + is completely unsuitable for global interchange because it is + interpreted differently in different countries. In addition, the + date format in [IMAIL] has resulted in interoperability problems when + people assumed any text string was permitted and translated the three + letter abbreviations to other languages or substituted date formats + which were easier to generate (e.g. the format used by the C function + ctime). For this reason, a balance must be struck between human + readability and interoperability. + + Because no date and time format is readable according to the + conventions of all countries, Internet clients SHOULD be prepared to + transform dates into a display format suitable for the locality. + This may include translating UTC to local time. + + + + + + + +Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 6] + +RFC 3339 Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps July 2002 + + +5.3. Rarely Used Options + + A format which includes rarely used options is likely to cause + interoperability problems. This is because rarely used options are + less likely to be used in alpha or beta testing, so bugs in parsing + are less likely to be discovered. Rarely used options should be made + mandatory or omitted for the sake of interoperability whenever + possible. + + The format defined below includes only one rarely used option: + fractions of a second. It is expected that this will be used only by + applications which require strict ordering of date/time stamps or + which have an unusual precision requirement. + +5.4. Redundant Information + + If a date/time format includes redundant information, that introduces + the possibility that the redundant information will not correlate. + For example, including the day of the week in a date/time format + introduces the possibility that the day of week is incorrect but the + date is correct, or vice versa. Since it is not difficult to compute + the day of week from a date (see Appendix B), the day of week should + not be included in a date/time format. + +5.5. Simplicity + + The complete set of date and time formats specified in ISO 8601 + [ISO8601] is quite complex in an attempt to provide multiple + representations and partial representations. Appendix A contains an + attempt to translate the complete syntax of ISO 8601 into ABNF. + Internet protocols have somewhat different requirements and + simplicity has proved to be an important characteristic. In + addition, Internet protocols usually need complete specification of + data in order to achieve true interoperability. Therefore, the + complete grammar for ISO 8601 is deemed too complex for most Internet + protocols. + + The following section defines a profile of ISO 8601 for use on the + Internet. It is a conformant subset of the ISO 8601 extended format. + Simplicity is achieved by making most fields and punctuation + mandatory. + + + + + + + + + + +Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 7] + +RFC 3339 Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps July 2002 + + +5.6. Internet Date/Time Format + + The following profile of ISO 8601 [ISO8601] dates SHOULD be used in + new protocols on the Internet. This is specified using the syntax + description notation defined in [ABNF]. + + date-fullyear = 4DIGIT + date-month = 2DIGIT ; 01-12 + date-mday = 2DIGIT ; 01-28, 01-29, 01-30, 01-31 based on + ; month/year + time-hour = 2DIGIT ; 00-23 + time-minute = 2DIGIT ; 00-59 + time-second = 2DIGIT ; 00-58, 00-59, 00-60 based on leap second + ; rules + time-secfrac = "." 1*DIGIT + time-numoffset = ("+" / "-") time-hour ":" time-minute + time-offset = "Z" / time-numoffset + + partial-time = time-hour ":" time-minute ":" time-second + [time-secfrac] + full-date = date-fullyear "-" date-month "-" date-mday + full-time = partial-time time-offset + + date-time = full-date "T" full-time + + NOTE: Per [ABNF] and ISO8601, the "T" and "Z" characters in this + syntax may alternatively be lower case "t" or "z" respectively. + + This date/time format may be used in some environments or contexts + that distinguish between the upper- and lower-case letters 'A'-'Z' + and 'a'-'z' (e.g. XML). Specifications that use this format in + such environments MAY further limit the date/time syntax so that + the letters 'T' and 'Z' used in the date/time syntax must always + be upper case. Applications that generate this format SHOULD use + upper case letters. + + NOTE: ISO 8601 defines date and time separated by "T". + Applications using this syntax may choose, for the sake of + readability, to specify a full-date and full-time separated by + (say) a space character. + + + + + + + + + + + +Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 8] + +RFC 3339 Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps July 2002 + + +5.7. Restrictions + + The grammar element date-mday represents the day number within the + current month. The maximum value varies based on the month and year + as follows: + + Month Number Month/Year Maximum value of date-mday + ------------ ---------- -------------------------- + 01 January 31 + 02 February, normal 28 + 02 February, leap year 29 + 03 March 31 + 04 April 30 + 05 May 31 + 06 June 30 + 07 July 31 + 08 August 31 + 09 September 30 + 10 October 31 + 11 November 30 + 12 December 31 + + Appendix C contains sample C code to determine if a year is a leap + year. + + The grammar element time-second may have the value "60" at the end of + months in which a leap second occurs -- to date: June (XXXX-06- + 30T23:59:60Z) or December (XXXX-12-31T23:59:60Z); see Appendix D for + a table of leap seconds. It is also possible for a leap second to be + subtracted, at which times the maximum value of time-second is "58". + At all other times the maximum value of time-second is "59". + Further, in time zones other than "Z", the leap second point is + shifted by the zone offset (so it happens at the same instant around + the globe). + + Leap seconds cannot be predicted far into the future. The + International Earth Rotation Service publishes bulletins [IERS] that + announce leap seconds with a few weeks' warning. Applications should + not generate timestamps involving inserted leap seconds until after + the leap seconds are announced. + + Although ISO 8601 permits the hour to be "24", this profile of ISO + 8601 only allows values between "00" and "23" for the hour in order + to reduce confusion. + + + + + + + +Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 9] + +RFC 3339 Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps July 2002 + + +5.8. Examples + + Here are some examples of Internet date/time format. + + 1985-04-12T23:20:50.52Z + + This represents 20 minutes and 50.52 seconds after the 23rd hour of + April 12th, 1985 in UTC. + + 1996-12-19T16:39:57-08:00 + + This represents 39 minutes and 57 seconds after the 16th hour of + December 19th, 1996 with an offset of -08:00 from UTC (Pacific + Standard Time). Note that this is equivalent to 1996-12-20T00:39:57Z + in UTC. + + 1990-12-31T23:59:60Z + + This represents the leap second inserted at the end of 1990. + + 1990-12-31T15:59:60-08:00 + + This represents the same leap second in Pacific Standard Time, 8 + hours behind UTC. + + 1937-01-01T12:00:27.87+00:20 + + This represents the same instant of time as noon, January 1, 1937, + Netherlands time. Standard time in the Netherlands was exactly 19 + minutes and 32.13 seconds ahead of UTC by law from 1909-05-01 through + 1937-06-30. This time zone cannot be represented exactly using the + HH:MM format, and this timestamp uses the closest representable UTC + offset. + +6. References + + [ZELLER] Zeller, C., "Kalender-Formeln", Acta Mathematica, Vol. + 9, Nov 1886. + + [IMAIL] Crocker, D., "Standard for the Format of Arpa Internet + Text Messages", STD 11, RFC 822, August 1982. + + [IMAIL-UPDATE] Resnick, P., "Internet Message Format", RFC 2822, + April 2001. + + [ABNF] Crocker, D. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax + Specifications: ABNF", RFC 2234, November 1997. + + + + +Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 10] + +RFC 3339 Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps July 2002 + + + [ISO8601] "Data elements and interchange formats -- Information + interchange -- Representation of dates and times", ISO + 8601:1988(E), International Organization for + Standardization, June, 1988. + + [ISO8601:2000] "Data elements and interchange formats -- Information + interchange -- Representation of dates and times", ISO + 8601:2000, International Organization for + Standardization, December, 2000. + + [HOST-REQ] Braden, R., "Requirements for Internet Hosts -- + Application and Support", STD 3, RFC 1123, October + 1989. + + [IERS] International Earth Rotation Service Bulletins, + <http://hpiers.obspm.fr/eop- + pc/products/bulletins.html>. + + [NTP] Mills, D, "Network Time Protocol (Version 3) + Specification, Implementation and Analysis", RFC 1305, + March 1992. + + [ITU-R-TF] International Telecommunication Union Recommendations + for Time Signals and Frequency Standards Emissions. + <http://www.itu.ch/publications/itu-r/iturtf.htm> + + [RFC2119] Bradner, S, "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate + Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997. + +7. Security Considerations + + Since the local time zone of a site may be useful for determining a + time when systems are less likely to be monitored and might be more + susceptible to a security probe, some sites may wish to emit times in + UTC only. Others might consider this to be loss of useful + functionality at the hands of paranoia. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 11] + +RFC 3339 Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps July 2002 + + +Appendix A. ISO 8601 Collected ABNF + + This information is based on the 1988 version of ISO 8601. There may + be some changes in the 2000 revision. + + ISO 8601 does not specify a formal grammar for the date and time + formats it defines. The following is an attempt to create a formal + grammar from ISO 8601. This is informational only and may contain + errors. ISO 8601 remains the authoritative reference. + + Note that due to ambiguities in ISO 8601, some interpretations had to + be made. First, ISO 8601 is not clear if mixtures of basic and + extended format are permissible. This grammar permits mixtures. ISO + 8601 is not clear on whether an hour of 24 is permissible only if + minutes and seconds are 0. This assumes that an hour of 24 is + permissible in any context. Restrictions on date-mday in section 5.7 + apply. ISO 8601 states that the "T" may be omitted under some + circumstances. This grammar requires the "T" to avoid ambiguity. + ISO 8601 also requires (in section 5.3.1.3) that a decimal fraction + be proceeded by a "0" if less than unity. Annex B.2 of ISO 8601 + gives examples where the decimal fractions are not preceded by a "0". + This grammar assumes section 5.3.1.3 is correct and that Annex B.2 is + in error. + + date-century = 2DIGIT ; 00-99 + date-decade = DIGIT ; 0-9 + date-subdecade = DIGIT ; 0-9 + date-year = date-decade date-subdecade + date-fullyear = date-century date-year + date-month = 2DIGIT ; 01-12 + date-wday = DIGIT ; 1-7 ; 1 is Monday, 7 is Sunday + date-mday = 2DIGIT ; 01-28, 01-29, 01-30, 01-31 based on + ; month/year + date-yday = 3DIGIT ; 001-365, 001-366 based on year + date-week = 2DIGIT ; 01-52, 01-53 based on year + + datepart-fullyear = [date-century] date-year ["-"] + datepart-ptyear = "-" [date-subdecade ["-"]] + datepart-wkyear = datepart-ptyear / datepart-fullyear + + dateopt-century = "-" / date-century + dateopt-fullyear = "-" / datepart-fullyear + dateopt-year = "-" / (date-year ["-"]) + dateopt-month = "-" / (date-month ["-"]) + dateopt-week = "-" / (date-week ["-"]) + + + + + + +Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 12] + +RFC 3339 Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps July 2002 + + + datespec-full = datepart-fullyear date-month ["-"] date-mday + datespec-year = date-century / dateopt-century date-year + datespec-month = "-" dateopt-year date-month [["-"] date-mday] + datespec-mday = "--" dateopt-month date-mday + datespec-week = datepart-wkyear "W" + (date-week / dateopt-week date-wday) + datespec-wday = "---" date-wday + datespec-yday = dateopt-fullyear date-yday + + date = datespec-full / datespec-year + / datespec-month / + datespec-mday / datespec-week / datespec-wday / datespec-yday + +Time: + + time-hour = 2DIGIT ; 00-24 + time-minute = 2DIGIT ; 00-59 + time-second = 2DIGIT ; 00-58, 00-59, 00-60 based on + ; leap-second rules + time-fraction = ("," / ".") 1*DIGIT + time-numoffset = ("+" / "-") time-hour [[":"] time-minute] + time-zone = "Z" / time-numoffset + + timeopt-hour = "-" / (time-hour [":"]) + timeopt-minute = "-" / (time-minute [":"]) + + timespec-hour = time-hour [[":"] time-minute [[":"] time-second]] + timespec-minute = timeopt-hour time-minute [[":"] time-second] + timespec-second = "-" timeopt-minute time-second + timespec-base = timespec-hour / timespec-minute / timespec-second + + time = timespec-base [time-fraction] [time-zone] + + iso-date-time = date "T" time + +Durations: + + dur-second = 1*DIGIT "S" + dur-minute = 1*DIGIT "M" [dur-second] + dur-hour = 1*DIGIT "H" [dur-minute] + dur-time = "T" (dur-hour / dur-minute / dur-second) + dur-day = 1*DIGIT "D" + dur-week = 1*DIGIT "W" + dur-month = 1*DIGIT "M" [dur-day] + dur-year = 1*DIGIT "Y" [dur-month] + dur-date = (dur-day / dur-month / dur-year) [dur-time] + + duration = "P" (dur-date / dur-time / dur-week) + + + +Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 13] + +RFC 3339 Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps July 2002 + + +Periods: + + period-explicit = iso-date-time "/" iso-date-time + period-start = iso-date-time "/" duration + period-end = duration "/" iso-date-time + + period = period-explicit / period-start / period-end + +Appendix B. Day of the Week + + The following is a sample C subroutine loosely based on Zeller's + Congruence [Zeller] which may be used to obtain the day of the week + for dates on or after 0000-03-01: + + char *day_of_week(int day, int month, int year) + { + int cent; + char *dayofweek[] = { + "Sunday", "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", + "Thursday", "Friday", "Saturday" + }; + + /* adjust months so February is the last one */ + month -= 2; + if (month < 1) { + month += 12; + --year; + } + /* split by century */ + cent = year / 100; + year %= 100; + return (dayofweek[((26 * month - 2) / 10 + day + year + + year / 4 + cent / 4 + 5 * cent) % 7]); + } + +Appendix C. Leap Years + + Here is a sample C subroutine to calculate if a year is a leap year: + + /* This returns non-zero if year is a leap year. Must use 4 digit + year. + */ + int leap_year(int year) + { + return (year % 4 == 0 && (year % 100 != 0 || year % 400 == 0)); + } + + + + + +Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 14] + +RFC 3339 Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps July 2002 + + +Appendix D. Leap Seconds + + Information about leap seconds can be found at: + <http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/leapsec.html>. In particular, it notes + that: + + The decision to introduce a leap second in UTC is the + responsibility of the International Earth Rotation Service (IERS). + According to the CCIR Recommendation, first preference is given to + the opportunities at the end of December and June, and second + preference to those at the end of March and September. + + When required, insertion of a leap second occurs as an extra second + at the end of a day in UTC, represented by a timestamp of the form + YYYY-MM-DDT23:59:60Z. A leap second occurs simultaneously in all + time zones, so that time zone relationships are not affected. See + section 5.8 for some examples of leap second times. + + The following table is an excerpt from the table maintained by the + United States Naval Observatory. The source data is located at: + + <ftp://maia.usno.navy.mil/ser7/tai-utc.dat> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 15] + +RFC 3339 Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps July 2002 + + + This table shows the date of the leap second, and the difference + between the time standard TAI (which isn't adjusted by leap seconds) + and UTC after that leap second. + + UTC Date TAI - UTC After Leap Second + -------- --------------------------- + 1972-06-30 11 + 1972-12-31 12 + 1973-12-31 13 + 1974-12-31 14 + 1975-12-31 15 + 1976-12-31 16 + 1977-12-31 17 + 1978-12-31 18 + 1979-12-31 19 + 1981-06-30 20 + 1982-06-30 21 + 1983-06-30 22 + 1985-06-30 23 + 1987-12-31 24 + 1989-12-31 25 + 1990-12-31 26 + 1992-06-30 27 + 1993-06-30 28 + 1994-06-30 29 + 1995-12-31 30 + 1997-06-30 31 + 1998-12-31 32 + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 16] + +RFC 3339 Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps July 2002 + + +Acknowledgements + + The following people provided helpful advice for an earlier + incarnation of this document: Ned Freed, Neal McBurnett, David + Keegel, Markus Kuhn, Paul Eggert and Robert Elz. Thanks are also due + to participants of the IETF Calendaring/Scheduling working group + mailing list, and participants of the time zone mailing list. + + The following reviewers contributed helpful suggestions for the + present revision: Tom Harsch, Markus Kuhn, Pete Resnick, Dan Kohn. + Paul Eggert provided many careful observations regarding the + subtleties of leap seconds and time zone offsets. The following + people noted corrections and improvements to earlier drafts: Dr John + Stockton, Jutta Degener, Joe Abley, and Dan Wing. + +Authors' Addresses + + Chris Newman + Sun Microsystems + 1050 Lakes Drive, Suite 250 + West Covina, CA 91790 USA + + EMail: chris.newman@sun.com + + + Graham Klyne (editor, this revision) + Clearswift Corporation + 1310 Waterside + Arlington Business Park + Theale, Reading RG7 4SA + UK + + Phone: +44 11 8903 8903 + Fax: +44 11 8903 9000 + EMail: GK@ACM.ORG + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 17] + +RFC 3339 Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps July 2002 + + +Full Copyright Statement + + Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002). All Rights Reserved. + + This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to + others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it + or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published + and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any + kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are + included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this + document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing + the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other + Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of + developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for + copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be + followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than + English. + + The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be + revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns. + + This document and the information contained herein is provided on an + "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING + TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING + BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION + HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF + MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Acknowledgement + + Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the + Internet Society. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 18] + |