Time Scales And Debian Installation:
Hi there:
The following is a suggestion in the Debian time selection section of the
Installation. And I apologize in advance if you already know this.
GMT does not equal UTC. These are two different time scales. They are as
different as inches are to centimeters except for the magnitude of the
difference. One is an astronomical based time scale (GMT) and is an
obsolete time scale for measuring civil time and has been for a long time
now.
The other, UTC, is an atomic time scale and is the basis for ALL civil time
(even the time on the Greenwich Meridian). UTC is derived from
International Atomic Time (TAI)-- the time atomic clocks measure and they are
the gatekeepers of time.
To the resolution of a stratum 2 NTP time server you can administer on your
Debian box, GMT and UTC are different times. Proper identification of your
time scale is analogous to identifying your units in say a measurement of
length. You don't call something inches when it was recored as centimeters
do you?
Some institutions just can't give GMT up and prorogate erroneous knowledge.
The British Broadcasting Service says GMT out of arrogance and the U.S.
Military says GMT out of ignorance, for example. But I feel Debian should
take a stand and cut the GMT usage out of its distribution. After more than
30 years of the world being on an atomic time scale, I feel we can put the
old astronomical time scale to bed.
Thanx for your attention.
tuco
Seattle, WA
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