Year 2038 time set problem

[Dave Stevens]

On Mon, 26 Feb 2018 15:16:32 +0100
Greg KH <greg at kroah.com> wrote:

> On Mon, Feb 26, 2018 at 02:15:53PM +0100, Piotr Figiel wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > 2018-02-24 16:50 GMT+01:00 Greg KH <greg at kroah.com>:  
> > > Also note that the 4.1 kernel is very old and obsolete and
> > > insecure, and should NOT be used for any devices in the year
> > > 2038.  
> > 
> > According to kernel.org website 4.1 has projected EOL in May 2018.  
> 
> Yes, 3 months from now.
> 
> > Is the information about kernel releases on kernel.org irrelevant/
> > shouldn't be trusted? Or my understanding of longterm kernel trees
> > is incorrect?  
> 
> No, it is correct, but note that since 4.1.y is about to be
> end-of-life, it is receiving very few updates.  No new device should
> be considering to use it for their kernel version because it will not
> be supported very soon now.
> 
> In fact, if you are using 4.1.y, you have already been told to move
> off of it as soon as possible for this very reason.
> 
> > Which trees do get security updates?  
> 
> The kernels listed on that page, but be aware that as the end-of-life
> time approaches, the releases and updates get very infrequent.  You
> should always just update to a newer kernel version, or, if you are
> stuck at a specific kernel version due to some hardware or SoC
> requirements, get your support from that company as you are already
> paying for it.
> 
> Hope this helps,
> 
> greg k-h

it makes me curious Greg. The little board *might* easily and lots of
other little boards *definitely will* be put into IoT gadgets for which
no updates are realistically available but whose owners will want to
use them as long as possible. It seems this means an abundance of small
and perhaps not so small devices will fail when the time comes.

I don't suppose I'm the only person curious about the ramifications,
could you refer me to relevant work?

TIA

Dave

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