# Well-past commit dates unsupported 1 messages from 2013-10-28 to 2013-10-28. Participants: Jean LAULIAC. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/35222 ## Jean LAULIAC, 2013-10-28 10:04 Subject: Well-past commit dates unsupported Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CALM1TLiVTq6kPB7Ke_VDEc%2BFs8u5NknCOHH_CuOzphQY3b_HeA%40mail.gmail.com ``` Hi there, I'm trying to use a well-past date for a git commit, before the UNIX Epoch, but this does not work for the reasons below. I'm on Mac OS X 10.8, git version 1.8.3.4, and `sizeof(time_t) == 8`. The date I'm trying to set is October 4, 1958, that is around timestamp -354808800. First technique, using the commit `--date` flags with ISO 8601: it says "invalid date". Second technique, described in the git ml archive, not using the porcelain: http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/152497/ git commit git cat-file -p HEAD > tmp.txt # at this point, edit the file to replace the timestamp git hash-object -t commit -w tmp.txt #=> 2ee8fcc02658e23219143f5bcfe6f9a4615745f9 git update-ref -m 'commit: foo' refs/heads/master \ 2ee8fcc02658e23219143f5bcfe6f9a4615745f9 Commit date is effectively updated, but `git show` clamps the date to zero (`Jan 1 1970`). `tig(1)` displays `55 years ago` so the actual commit date is properly stored. Last issue: when trying to push this commit to a remote repository: #=> remote: error: object 2ee8fcc02658e23219143f5bcfe6f9a4615745f9:invalid # author/committer line - bad date #=> remote: fatal: Error in object #=> error: unpack failed: index-pack abnormal exit Finally, when running `test-date` from git sources: ./test-date show -354808800 #=> -354808800 -> in the future Is it a deliberate git behavior? Is fully supporting past or far future dates in the roadmap, since the referenced message above from 2010? Should I try to make a patch? Thanks! PS: use case for past dates is to match the historical law changes. As others did before, I'm trying to map the history of France Constitution to git. -- Jean Lauliac ```