An unsigned int is probably more appropriate for timestamps than a signed int.
Also note that the range for timestamps is 1970 until 2038 (or 2106? for unsigned ints), where DATE and DATETIME have a much greater range. Using a UNIX timestamp for birthdays might not be appropriate. Many Unix systems are transitioning to a 64-bit timestamp: that should cover most needs...(:-). In the meantime, while there may be a some applications where it is important to keep both the date AND time for a range outside of 1970-2038, I can't think of one outside of astronomy. Most applications that need dates outside of that range don't need much in the way of times in general and timezone adjustments in particular. When I am storing event timestamps, I use Unix 32-bit timestamps (which are in GMT) as the base and either convert to local time for printing or store a printed version (in yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss-oooo form) in anotehr column where appropriate. Storing the latter makes date-based selection easy. Craig -- MySQL General Mailing List For list archives: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql To unsubscribe: http://lists.mysql.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]
