GNU bug report logs - #45695
Date does not work for dates before 1970

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: zed991 <jt40407 <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: Date does not work for dates before 1970
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2021 17:34:01 +0100

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

On linux, I can use  date +%s --date "31 Dec 1969"
The result is -90000
A negative number

But when I try it on Windows (using GNUWin32) it gives me an error -
"invalid date"

I downloaded date for windows from this link -
http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/coreutils.htm

Is there any fix for Windows?

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #8 received at 45695 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: "Philip Rowlands" <phr+coreutils <at> dimebar.com>
To: zed991 <jt40407 <at> gmail.com>, 45695 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#45695: Date does not work for dates before 1970
Date: Wed, 06 Jan 2021 22:51:49 +0000

On Wed, 6 Jan 2021, at 16:34, zed991 wrote:
> On linux, I can use  date +%s --date "31 Dec 1969"
> The result is -90000
> A negative number
> 
> But when I try it on Windows (using GNUWin32) it gives me an error -
> "invalid date"
> 
> I downloaded date for windows from this link -
> http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/coreutils.htm

That specific page refers to coreutils 5.3.0, which was published in 2005. The gnuwin32 website in general doesn't appear to have been updated in over 10 years.

My personal recommendation to run coreutils on Windows is WSL2, but there are other options (cygwin etc.)

Cheers,
Phil

Message #13 received at 45695-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Bob Proulx <bob <at> proulx.com>
To: zed991 <jt40407 <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 45695-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#45695: Date does not work for dates before 1970
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 2021 16:59:47 -0700

zed991 wrote:
> On linux, I can use  date +%s --date "31 Dec 1969"
> The result is -90000
> A negative number

Which is correct for dates before the 0 time:

    Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_time

> But when I try it on Windows (using GNUWin32) it gives me an error -
> "invalid date"
> 
> I downloaded date for windows from this link -
> http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/coreutils.htm
> 
> Is there any fix for Windows?

According to that page the last update of the GnuWin project was
2015-05-20 therefore one might think that project is no longer
updating now more than five years later.

Perhaps it would be good to look for a different MS-Windows port of
the software?  The usual recommendation is to install Cygwin which
generally is a more reliable port of the software.  Although I
understand that it might be a little heavy for many users.  But
whichever port to Microsoft you find look to see that it has been
updated in the last few years.

Generally the GNU Project is all about the source and use on Free(dom)
Software systems.  Generally most of us are not using Microsoft and
therefore it makes it hard for us to help.  It really needs a
Microsoft person to champion the cause and to keep that system updated.

Since this is not a bug in the GNU Coreutils software itself but in
the windows port of it I am going to go ahead and close the ticket
with this message.  But if you have updates about this please send an
update to the bug ticket as it would help us know what to say in the
future to other Microsoft users.  And other people searching the
archive will benefit from your experience with it.

Bob

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