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The Year 2038 & Date-Bug Wiki
In brief: At 03:14:07 UTC on Tuesday, 19 January 2038, any computer that counts time as a signed 32-bit number of seconds since 1 January 1970 will run out of numbers. The clock will wrap around to 13 December 1901. This wiki explains what that means, which systems are affected and how to fix them. It also documents the Year 2000 (Y2K) bug that came before.
| Time remaining | ~11 years 3 months (as of 2026-10-21) |
| Overflow moment | 2038-01-19T03:14:07Z → next second reads 1901-12-13T20:45:52Z |
| Last reviewed | 2026-10-21 |
Start here
| If you are… | Read |
|---|---|
| New to the topic | Year 2038 Problem → Glossary |
| An engineer or sysadmin | Testing & Detection → Remediation Guide |
| In risk or compliance | Risk Assessment Checklist → Devices & Embedded Systems |
| A student or history reader | Year 2000 Problem → Y2K Lessons for 2038 |
Contents
The Year 2038 problem
- Year 2038 Problem: overview and mechanics
- Known 2038 Incidents: failures that have already happened
Operating systems
- Operating Systems: status matrix
- Linux · BSD & Unix · Windows · macOS & iOS · Android · Embedded & RTOS
Programming languages
- Programming Languages: status matrix
- C & C++ · Java & JVM · .NET · Python · PHP · JavaScript & TypeScript · Go, Rust & Swift · Perl, Ruby & others
Devices & embedded systems
- Devices & Embedded Systems: overview
- Industrial & Infrastructure · Automotive, Aviation & Medical · Networking & IoT
Data, storage & protocols
Testing & remediation
The Year 2000 problem (Y2K)
Related date bugs
- Related Date Bugs: index of all known rollovers
- GPS Week Rollover · NTP Era 2036 · Year 2106 & Beyond
Reference
- Articles & Sources: annotated bibliography
- Glossary
Key dates at a glance
| Date (UTC) | Event | Page |
|---|---|---|
| 2000-01-01 | Y2K two-digit year rollover | Year-2000-Problem |
| 2019-04-06 | GPS week rollover (2nd) | GPS-Week-Rollover |
| 2036-02-07 06:28:16 | NTP era 0 → era 1 | NTP-Era-2036 |
| 2038-01-19 03:14:07 | Signed 32-bit time_t overflow |
Year-2038-Problem |
| 2038-11-20/21 | GPS week rollover (3rd) | GPS-Week-Rollover |
| 2042-09-17 | IBM System/370 64-bit TOD clock wraps | Related-Date-Bugs |
| 2106-02-07 06:28:15 | Unsigned 32-bit time_t overflow |
Year-2106-and-Beyond |
Contributing
Page structure, naming and sourcing rules are in WIKI-CONVENTIONS.md at the repository root. Every factual claim must cite a source.