Unix timestamp maximum

From: keith@waters.co.za Operating system: RedHat Linux PHP version: 4.0.4pl1 PHP Bug Type: Feature/Change Request Bug description: Unix timestamp doesnt go over Tuesday 19 January 2038 05:11 As you know, most of PHP's date and time functions use the unix timestamp, which wont go past Tuesday 19 January 2038 05:11, numberically represented by 2147483648 (ie 30 bits) Surely PHP can get clever and work around this? (ie allow bigger values which will translate back and forth properly up to the year 9999?) Otherwise we will all find outselves with a Y2K-like date nightmare! eg: currently: echo mktime(0,0,0,1,1,2099); outputs -1 and putting any number past 2147483648 into date() wont give you anything past Tuesday 19 January 2038 05:11 Thanks! regards, Keith