Hi Deepa,
On Sat, Jan 06, 2018 at 04:19:15PM -0800, Deepa Dinamani wrote:
struct timeval is not y2038 safe. All usage of timeval in the kernel will be replaced by y2038 safe structures. The change is also necessary as glibc is introducing support for 32 bit applications to use 64 bit time_t. Without this change, many applications would incorrectly interpret values in the struct input_event. More details about glibc at https://sourceware.org/glibc/wiki/Y2038ProofnessDesign .
struct input_event maintains time for each input event. Real time timestamps are not ideal for input as this time can go backwards as noted in the patch a80b83b7b8 by John Stultz. Hence, having the input_event.time fields only big enough for monotonic and boot times are sufficient.
I am happy with the patch, but have some concerns about changelog. The change does not really prevent anyone from using CLOCK_REALTIME past 2106, especially on 64 bit arches. We are simply extending range of reported seconds in input event by converting from signed to unsigned value.
The change leaves the representation of struct input_event as is on 64 bit architectures. But uses 2 unsigned long values on 32 bit machines to support real timestamps until year 2106. This intentionally breaks the ABI on 32 bit architectures and compat handling on 64 bit architectures. This is as per maintainer's preference to introduce compile time errors rather than run into runtime incompatibilities.
We are breaking API, not ABI though. The ABI for existing programs is exactly the same, it is only when system starts using the newer glibc supporting extended time the compilation will break.
The change requires any 32 bit userspace utilities reading or writing from event nodes to update their reading format to match the new input_event. The changes to the popular libraries will be posted once we agree on the kernel change.
I propose we have the following changelog:
Input: extend usable life of event timestamps to 2106 on 32 bit systems
The input events use struct timeval to store event time, unfortunately this structure is not y2038 safe and is being replaced in kernel with y2038 safe structures.
Because of ABI concerns we can not change the size or the layout of structure input_event, so we opt to re-interpreting the 'seconds' part of timestamp as an unsigned value, effectively doubling the range of values, to year 2106.
Newer glibc that has support for 32 bit applications to use 64 bit time_t supplies __USE_TIME_BITS64 define [1], that we can use to present the userspace with updated input_event layout. The updated layout will cause the compile time breakage, alerting applications and distributions maintainers to the issue. Existing 32 binaries will continue working without any changes until 2038.
Ultimately userspace applications should switch to using monotonic or boot time clocks, as realtime clock is not very well suited for input event timestamps as it can go backwards (see a80b83b7b8 "Input: evdev - add CLOCK_BOOTTIME support" by by John Stultz). With monotonic clock the practical range of reported times will always fit into the pair of 32 bit values, as we do not expect any system to stay up for a hundred years without a single reboot.
[1] https://sourceware.org/glibc/wiki/Y2038ProofnessDesign
Please let me know if you disagee with the above.
Thanks!