Q: Are the Xerces parsers Year-2000-compliant?

Yes, Xerces-J and Xerces-C are Year 2000 compliant. They do not currently use any dates at all (at least until the XML Schema date datatypes are fully supported). However, you may still have Y2K problems if the underlying OS or Java implementation has problems with dates past year 2000 (e.g. OS calls which accept or return year numbers).

Most (UNIX) systems store dates internally as signed 32-bit integers which contain the number of seconds since 1st January 1970, so the magic boundary to worry about is the year 2038 and not 2000. But modern operating systems shouldn't cause any trouble at all.

The Apache Xerces project is an open-source software product of the Apache Software Foundation. The project and the Foundation cannot and does not offer legal assurances regarding any suitability of the software for your application. There are several commercial support organizations and derivative products available that may be able to certify the software and provide you with any assurances you may require (IBM's Websphere product is one of them).

The Apache HTTP server software is distributed with the following disclaimer, found in the software license:

	THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE APACHE SOFTWARE FOUNDATION OR ITS CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.