Company
Date Published
Author
Stephen Blum
Word count
999
Language
English
Hacker News points
None

Summary

PubNub implemented an enhancement to its TimeToken system on May 2, 2012, which involved increasing the TimeToken's size from 13 to 17 digits to improve its longevity and prevent it from resetting every 14 days, an issue that previously caused undesirable message duplication. This change addresses the Year 2038 problem by using a 64-bit value for the TimeToken, ensuring compatibility with future Unix Timestamp updates. Although most users would not be affected, as they typically do not interact with the TimeToken directly, those who do must adjust their usage patterns accordingly. The TimeToken, delivered as a string, is designed to avoid issues with PubNub Client APIs even with its increased size, and PubNub has ensured compatibility with all APIs/SDKs since version 3.0+.