> > > I just encountered a funny (initially strange) problem arising because
> > > my embedded RT-Clock was set to the year 1909.
> > > Hence System.currentTimeMillis() returns a negative number, and this is
> > > used internally in java.util.Timer#schedule(), and throws an unchecked
> > > exception - aarghh...
> > >
> > > I know this is an obscure problem, but is there is requirement that we
> > > are only "allowed" to run gcj on targets with clocks > 1970.
> > > One could change the Timer code to handle this situation, or just ignore it.
> > >
> > > For now I will just make sure the time is not less than 1970 and larger
> > > than some other limit overflowing the long.
> > >
> > > The problem arises because my target's RTC comes with an undefinded
> > > initial time - hence anything is possible :-)
> >
> > This is a tricky one, because even if we fix gcj to allow this I
> > suspect some user code will be confused. It is perhaps not
> > unreasonable for a programmer to assume that the "current time" during
> > a program's execution will not predate her birth!
> >
> > You need to make sure that your RTC is initialized to some sane value.
>
> Now, that's the hole key issue: "Sane" is not necessarily 1970+ for one
> that doesn't bother about the absolute time, but just wants to do
> something in relative time...
"Sane" in this context just means > 1970. If you want to work in
relative time, start at 1970.