Margin note: That 70's problem

In what has become an incremental Mac OS X update disaster for Apple, hundreds of users continue to complain about a bug in the 10.2.4 updater that causes the system's date to revert to the end of 1969 on each startup. We have covered the issue extensively on MacFixIt, publishing the latest in a series of corroborated workarounds in today's edition.

Unfortunately, none of the workaround we have discovered so far are catch-alls. They all either apply to only a portion of system configurations, or require some action after each restart. In a word, inconvenient.

That said, inconvenience is the least of some Mac administrators' concerns associated with the Mac OS X 10.2.4 date bug. Having networked systems - especially those used as servers or synchronization slaves - with incorrect or constantly changing time settings is a compromising situation. Unintended file overwriting, missing urgent messages, and incorrect ordering of database elements can all result.

The bottom line is that for critical enterprise applications (where Macs are playing a larger role lately), unpredictable date and time problems are not acceptable. Using workarounds that can temporarily solve the problem and only for it to unexpectedly resurface is not an option.

Until Apple issues a permanent fix, users in these situations are forced to revert to Mac OS X 10.2.3; another inconvenient process that will require reconfiguration of preference settings and other considerations that are amplified in a multi-user environment. [See our Mac OS X 10.2.2 report under the heading "Reverting to Mac OS X 10.2.1" for instructions that apply to every incremental update.]

For Mac systems managers' this situation begs the question: How was a bug so widely reported not discovered in pre-release testing, and why hasn't a usable patch been issued more than two weeks after Mac OS X 10.2.4's release?

See these MacFixIt articles for more information:

1. Troubleshooting Mac OS X 10.2.4: Another fix for the date bug
2. Fix for the Mac OS X 10.2.4 date bug
3. Apple addresses Mac OS X 10.2.4 date bug with Knowledge Base article
4. Troubleshooting Mac OS X 10.2.4: Another date bug solution; forgetting preferences; more
5. Troubleshooting Mac OS X 10.2.4: Solutions for Date Bug

Feedback on this issue? Drop us a line at late-breakers@macfixit.com.

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