Cash registers in Poland fail due to new year bug (PL) (opens in new tab)

(translate.google.pl)

54 pointsDonmario6y ago23 comments

23 comments

I wouldn't be surprised if something alone the lines of `split("20")` or `replace("20", ““)` was the culprit somewhere (to turn it into a 2-digit year). I've seen the most absurd date handling code...

hn_throwaway_996y ago

Yeah, and I could imagine some developer fixing a Y2K big in the late 90s thinking, "Hmm, this may cause a problem in 2020, good thing I'll be long gone by then."

acqq6y ago

And that proves that the Y2K problem was real: even in 2020 some companies that had only these printers apparently simply can't do their business until the repair of the printers is made.

foobarian6y ago

On the topic of dates broken around New Year's, there is this perennial favorite:

http://dangoldin.com/2019/01/06/javas-simpledateformat-yyyy-...

astura6y ago

So far I've heard of the following fail due to some sort of 2020 bug:

Parking meters: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/nyregion/nyc-parking-mete...

Video games: https://www.dsogaming.com/news/star-wars-jedi-fallen-order-w...

Now cash registers.

Anything else?

gglnx6y ago

Trains in Hamburg: https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/hamburg/Software-Fehler-legt-...

Forge366y ago

Maybe we'll hear about more on Monday. I wonder if there will be a central site with stories like these

rasz6y ago

article mentions another game, WWE2K20

jaredwiener6y ago

Similar issue in NYC with parking meters: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/nyregion/nyc-parking-mete...

throwawayjava6y ago

The official explanation from the vendor is that this was an "anti-fraud security setting".

Can anyone familiar with CC processing provide insight on whether that's a reasonable explanation?

Regardless, a problem that requires a "software fix" from the vendor and manual visitations to each individual machine doesn't sound like a mere "setting"

kevin_thibedeau6y ago

It's BS. They've already been handling cards with expiration dates beyond 2020. The broken part can only be their internal date handling.

CydeWeys6y ago

I assume the meters are network-connected because they take credit cards, but they can't be remotely updated? Seems like an obvious omission.

1 more reply

FDSGSG6y ago

>Can anyone familiar with CC processing provide insight on whether that's a reasonable explanation?

It is not.

rasz6y ago

"anti-fraud security setting" might be expired cert

acqq6y ago

Apparently it's a "bug in the software of popular Delio cash printers from Novitus". The product page of the printer mentioned is:

https://www.novitus.pl/en/produkty/systemy-fiskalne/delio-pr...

It can be seen that the printer already existed in 2009 and then got something ("Polish Promotional Emblem" according to Google Translate) https://www.novitus.pl/sites/default/files/certyfikaty_tp_55...

Even if it's only one model, if the companies have only that one model of printers they won't be able to sell anything until the printers are serviced.

Effectively, having such a bug in software, even in multiple units of the same model translates to a single point of failure for the company using it.

ethbro6y ago

I would love to hear what bizarre encoding they used that resulted in 2020 being an issue.

(I'm assuming these machines aren't all < year old and just break on any new year)

skymt6y ago

2020 was a common pivot year used in the "windowing" workaround to the Y2K bug. 2-digit years < 20 are defined as 20XX, while years >= 20 are defined as 19XX.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_windowing

jeewes6y ago

Thanks for sharing.

Y2K used to be just an interesting story from the past. Never guessed that it would still be biting people 20 years later. Ouch...

estebank6y ago

I would assume that they were made Y2K compliant by pushing the cutoff date back to 2020, so date math are operating on 1920 dates by accident.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

23 comments

nippoo6y ago

hn_throwaway_996y ago

Yeah, and I could imagine some developer fixing a Y2K big in the late 90s thinking, "Hmm, this may cause a problem in 2020, good thing I'll be long gone by then."

acqq6y ago

And that proves that the Y2K problem was real: even in 2020 some companies that had only these printers apparently simply can't do their business until the repair of the printers is made.

foobarian6y ago

On the topic of dates broken around New Year's, there is this perennial favorite:

http://dangoldin.com/2019/01/06/javas-simpledateformat-yyyy-...

astura6y ago

So far I've heard of the following fail due to some sort of 2020 bug:

Parking meters: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/nyregion/nyc-parking-mete...

Video games: https://www.dsogaming.com/news/star-wars-jedi-fallen-order-w...

Now cash registers.

Anything else?

gglnx6y ago

Trains in Hamburg: https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/hamburg/Software-Fehler-legt-...

Forge366y ago

Maybe we'll hear about more on Monday. I wonder if there will be a central site with stories like these

rasz6y ago

article mentions another game, WWE2K20

jaredwiener6y ago

Similar issue in NYC with parking meters: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/nyregion/nyc-parking-mete...

throwawayjava6y ago

The official explanation from the vendor is that this was an "anti-fraud security setting".

Can anyone familiar with CC processing provide insight on whether that's a reasonable explanation?

Regardless, a problem that requires a "software fix" from the vendor and manual visitations to each individual machine doesn't sound like a mere "setting"

kevin_thibedeau6y ago

It's BS. They've already been handling cards with expiration dates beyond 2020. The broken part can only be their internal date handling.

CydeWeys6y ago

I assume the meters are network-connected because they take credit cards, but they can't be remotely updated? Seems like an obvious omission.

1 more reply

FDSGSG6y ago

>Can anyone familiar with CC processing provide insight on whether that's a reasonable explanation?

It is not.

rasz6y ago

"anti-fraud security setting" might be expired cert

acqq6y ago

Apparently it's a "bug in the software of popular Delio cash printers from Novitus". The product page of the printer mentioned is:

https://www.novitus.pl/en/produkty/systemy-fiskalne/delio-pr...

Even if it's only one model, if the companies have only that one model of printers they won't be able to sell anything until the printers are serviced.

Effectively, having such a bug in software, even in multiple units of the same model translates to a single point of failure for the company using it.

ethbro6y ago

I would love to hear what bizarre encoding they used that resulted in 2020 being an issue.

(I'm assuming these machines aren't all < year old and just break on any new year)

skymt6y ago

2020 was a common pivot year used in the "windowing" workaround to the Y2K bug. 2-digit years < 20 are defined as 20XX, while years >= 20 are defined as 19XX.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_windowing

jeewes6y ago

Thanks for sharing.

Y2K used to be just an interesting story from the past. Never guessed that it would still be biting people 20 years later. Ouch...

estebank6y ago

I would assume that they were made Y2K compliant by pushing the cutoff date back to 2020, so date math are operating on 1920 dates by accident.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse