[rabbitmq-discuss] timestamp basic property looses milliseconds?

[Marek Majkowski]

On Thu, Feb 23, 2012 at 11:12, Marek Majkowski <majek04 at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 20:04, Ken Baltrinic
> <kbaltrinic at bericotechnologies.com> wrote:
>> We are attempting to use the amqp basic property "timestamp" via the
>> RabbitMQ java client (see code below) to record the point in time when
>> the message gets sent.  However, we are finding that when a message is
>> pulled from the bus, the timestamp property of the retrieve message
>> has had its milliseconds component dropped.  We are using rabbitmq
>> 2.7.1 with erlang R15B.  Is this a bug or by design? Other than using
>> our own headers, is there a better way to do this?  We would love it
>> if Rabbit itself would provide this timestamp as it would eliminate
>> issues with client clocks not being in sync.
>
> AMQP spec says:
>
>> 4.2.5.4 Timestamps
>> Time stamps are held in the 64-bit POSIX time_t format with an
>> accuracy of one second. By using 64 bits we avoid future wraparound
>> issues associated with 31-bit and 32-bit time_t values.
>
> So, as far as you're using the built-in timestamp field, it will be
> rounded to a second. Sorry.

Of course nothing is topping you from sending a custom header
with an arbitrary data type (float, string or long long). That way
you could send the timestamp data in any format you wish.

Marek