The Y2K38 bug presents a similar issue. Unix (and Linux) clocks count time in seconds, starting from January 1, 1970, which was dubbed the Unix Epoch, and some systems store that number in a signed 32-bit integer which will overflow at (brace yourself) precisely 03:14:07 UTC on January 19, 2038. When it does so, clocks will revert to December 1901.
Epochalypse now?
In fact, it’s already a real mess that is hitting systems, such as pension fund projections, that look into the future beyond that magic moment in 2038.
Said mess won’t affect modern 64-bit systems, of course — their dates are stored in 64-bit variables, good for more than 292 billion years. But legacy and embedded systems are at risk, hence the work by Debian and other distros. Everything from plant control systems and building monitoring systems to routers and security cameras are running some sort of embedded operating system, and for many, it’s 32-bit Linux. These systems often remain in service for decades without replacement, making a software fix a necessity. It’s another example how the failure to take hardware and software longevity into account can come back to bite us.
The cure: changing date storage to 64-bit variables. It was a massive task for Debian maintainers, involving almost 6,500 packages, and it all had to happen at one time because it also involved a change to the application binary interface (ABI). But Debian says the work is complete, or at least, as complete as it’s going to get for now. To ensure compatibility with x86 binaries, it is leaving dates on i386 systems as 32-bit, although it is considering options if there’s enough demand for 64-bit dates on those systems.
It may seem that the overflow is still a far-off problem but, “As of 2025, this is less that 13 years away, and plenty of systems that will have problems have already been shipped,” Debian said in a post about the issue. “We should stop adding to the problem. Most computing, especially computing using Debian or its derivatives, is now done on 64-bit hardware where this issue does not arise. However there is quite a lot of cost-sensitive 32-bit computing still out there, and still shipping in new devices (automotive, IoT, TVs, routers, plant control, building monitoring/control, cheap Android phones etc.), with some of that hardware probably running Debian or its derivatives.”
This is particularly important because many other Linux distros, including RedHat and Fedora, have already dropped 32-bit support, and SUSE’s support is unofficial, leaving the Debian ecosystem to carry a large part of the 32-bit load.
