Date.compareTo : misbehaviour on linux environment?

[vishwanath nadimpally]

I have this piece of code:

    
Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
java.util.Date todaysDate = null;
java.util.Date endDate = null;
SimpleDateFormat SDF = new SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss aaa");
try {
todaysDate = cal.getTime();
endDate = SDF.parse("10/16/2006 01:42:27 PM");
int result = endDate.compareTo(todaysDate);
System.out.println(" This is the result " + result);
} catch (ParseException pe) {
//Ignore
}
 
output on windows box: 
This is the result -1
 
output in linux environment: 
This is the result 1
 

Is Date.compareTo() unreliable?

[Jim Yingst]

[vishwanath]: Is Date.compareTo() unreliable?

Not as far as I know. I think the most likely causes of your problem here are either: (a) one of your machines has its system clock set incorrectly, or (b) the two machines are using different TimeZones or Locales, which would affect how they interpret the endDate. I recommend adding a few lines of code to see what's going on:

            System.out.println("todaysDate: " + todaysDate);
            System.out.println("new Date(): " + new Date());
            System.out.println("time zone: " + SDF.getTimeZone());
            System.out.println("system default time zone: " + TimeZone.getDefault());

[vishwanath nadimpally]

Windows box:
This is the endDate Mon Oct 16 15:32:45 CDT 2006
This is todays date Mon Oct 16 15:34:26 CDT 2006

lnux box:
This is the endDate Mon Oct 16 15:32:45 CDT 2006
This is todays date Mon Oct 16 15:25:06 CDT 2006

The system.out.println did it.. Suddenly I realized that the times are different, thanks..
[ October 16, 2006: Message edited by: vishwanath nadimpally ]