the ``need'' for POSIX times

[John Cowan]

Paul Eggert wrote:

> [O]n an implementation whose internal clock
> ticks TAI, the UTC clock ticks right along with the internal clock --
> except during an inserted leap second, where the UTC clock is adjusted
> back by one second.

What's official about that?  I don't see how a UTC clock has been
"adjusted backward".  Rather, a UTC minute can sometimes contain
61 seconds, properly labeled from 0 to 60.  Similarly, a UTC day
sometimes contains 86401 seconds.  This is not at all the same
as adjusting a clock, where the clock was wrong before and is
hopefully now correct.  
 
> When converting a UTC clock to a printed representation, it's
> conventional to use :60 for the inserted leap second, but this is
> merely a notation to indicate that the UTC clock is repeating,

Do you have some kind of authority for this claim?

-- 
John Cowan	http://www.ccil.org/~cowan		cowan at ccil.org
	You tollerday donsk?  N.  You tolkatiff scowegian?  Nn.
	You spigotty anglease?  Nnn.  You phonio saxo?  Nnnn.
		Clear all so!  'Tis a Jute.... (Finnegans Wake 16.5)