Year 2038 Fixes Still Being Worked On For The Linux Kernel

The Linux kernel has been working on many Year 2038 fixes for a while now but the work is not over. Another pull request was sent in for the Linux 4.7 kernel in trying to prepare the VFS layer with Y2038 fixes.

Arnd Bergmann has submitted a batch of Y2038 fixes for the Linux 4.7 merge window for the VFS code. He commented, "This is a preparation series for changing the VFS infrastructure to use time64_t in inode timestamps...The patches were done by Deepa Dinamani during her Outreachy internship along with the following set of more than 100 patches that depend on them but that can get merged through the individual file system maintainer trees."

While there are legitimate Y2038 issues in the VFS code, Linus Torvalds so far is unhappy with the changes so we'll see whether or not the work is accepted in the current form.

Should you be living under a rock and not familiar with the Year 2038 problem, see Wikipedia for details.