Re: DateUtils#getNow

On 26/07/26 12:35 pm, Stefan Bodewig wrote:
> On 2026-07-25, Emmanuel Bourg wrote:
>
>> Mixing the date and the reproducible status in the same return value
>> doesn't look great. What about adding a isReproducibleBuild() method
>> instead? I don't know where it would fit the best though, DateUtils
>> doesn't look right. Maybe in Project?
> If we add it separately then Project is the logical choice to me as
> well.
>
I had a look at the new DateUtils.getNow(Project) method and the new 
public field ENV_SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH. I think the new public field on 
DateUtils is fine and a natural place for that field. As for the new 
method, I agree with Emmanuel that its return type might need to be 
changed to just return a Date. Furthermore, like you note, I think it 
might be better to move this getNow() method as an instance method to 
the Project class, something like:

public Date getNow() {
     ...
}

As for whether the callers need to know whether SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH 
environment variable value was used for determining the return value, I 
think the current javadoc (which would be moved to this new method) has 
clear text on what environment variable and magic properties are used, 
and in which order, to determine this value. I think it will be rare for 
callers to additionally require to know which of the environment 
variable or magic property was used, and if they do, then it's 
straightforward for them to do a 
System.getenv(DateUtils.ENV_SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH) or 
Project.getProperty(MagicNames...) to find it out themselves. So I think 
we don't need any new additional API or return type to tell callers 
whether the SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH environment variable was used.

-Jaikiran