avoiding y2k by setting the date backwards?

We are thinking about solving the year 2000 problem of one of the systems of our firm by setting the system clock some years backwards.

The system has the HP-UX 9.04, which is not y2k capable, and Oracle 7.1.3, which should be y2k capable according to the web page of Oracle, and an individual application (a stock administration system).

The update of the HP-UX to Rel. 10.20 would imply the update of Oracle and the transfer of the application, all together at a rather high price.

The system isn't involved in any data transfer to other systems, in data archiving necessities etc., so, concerning the functionality, the wrong date had no bad consequence.

But what about HP-UX or Oracle? Where are the risks? For testing the operating system I booted another HP-UX 9.04 system (without Oracle) with the year 1990, and there was no error to be seen. Is Oracle sensitive to that? Of course we would stop Oracle before the date setting and would make a new backup.

We are grateful for any information or experience.

Gerhard Gross Received on Tue Dec 08 1998 - 10:31:52 CST