Maximum values for time_t (struct timespec)

Question

I am using the struct timespec structure and here it is:

struct timespec {
           time_t tv_sec;                /* Seconds */
           long   tv_nsec;               /* Nanoseconds */
};

Thing is, user will be entering the values for each of these individual members, and i want to put a check a max. value the user can enter.

Can I take the max. value of time_t as int max value? i.e INT_MAX for tv_sec and LONG_MAX (defined in limits.h) for the tv_nsec? What will be the minimum acceptable values for both? Is it zero? I guess negative values can't be accepted? Just to add, these values will be using in a timer.

P.S: Where is the typedef for time_t? Could not find it in time.h.

Answer 1

Since people here are answering how to set the maximum time_t value, and make further guesswork as to its type, I thought I'd add the c++ way to do it:

#include <limits>
...
time_t maxTime = std::numeric_limits<time_t>::max();