Review the use of timestamp fields in the database, consider replacing them with datetime fields in order to avoid issues with the year 2038 and beyond

[hostep]

Preconditions (*)

Read the mysql documentation around the usage for datetime and timestamp field types
Especially these sections are important:

The DATETIME type is used for values that contain both date and time parts. MySQL retrieves and displays DATETIME values in 'YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss' format. The supported range is '1000-01-01 00:00:00' to '9999-12-31 23:59:59'.

The TIMESTAMP data type is used for values that contain both date and time parts. TIMESTAMP has a range of '1970-01-01 00:00:01' UTC to '2038-01-19 03:14:07' UTC.

MySQL converts TIMESTAMP values from the current time zone to UTC for storage, and back from UTC to the current time zone for retrieval. (This does not occur for other types such as DATETIME.) By default, the current time zone for each connection is the server's time. The time zone can be set on a per-connection basis. As long as the time zone setting remains constant, you get back the same value you store. If you store a TIMESTAMP value, and then change the time zone and retrieve the value, the retrieved value is different from the value you stored. This occurs because the same time zone was not used for conversion in both directions. The current time zone is available as the value of the time_zone system variable.

Be aware of the difference in timezone handling between these type of fields, that might be important, but it's hard to predict without proper testing how they will behave within Magento

Steps to reproduce (*)

1. Look into the source code of Magento
2. Search for usages of 'timestamp' or 'datetime', I currently find these numbers (both in real code as in testing code):
   • 20 usages of datetime
   • 146 usages of timestamp

Expected result (*)

1. The appropriate field should be used in the appropriate place. When we expect that a field might contain a value beyond the year 2038, we should change it from timestamp to datetime

Actual result (*)

1. Currently a lot of fields in the database can't contain dates beyond the year 2038

References

This was already noticed at least twice previously in the magento codebase:

• Magento 2.2.6 coupon codes don't work anymore #18183 (comment) (fixed in: Resolved issue coupon codes don't work anymore #18183 #22718)
• New admin account is disabled after a login attempt is made if the account's expiration date is greater than 2038 #34463 (proposed fix: Update expires_at column type from table admin_user_expiration in ord… #34462)

---

Please provide Severity assessment for the Issue as Reporter. This information will help during Confirmation and Issue triage processes.

• Severity: S0 - Affects critical data or functionality and leaves users without workaround.
• Severity: S1 - Affects critical data or functionality and forces users to employ a workaround.
• Severity: S2 - Affects non-critical data or functionality and forces users to employ a workaround.
• Severity: S3 - Affects non-critical data or functionality and does not force users to employ a workaround.
• Severity: S4 - Affects aesthetics, professional look and feel, “quality” or “usability”.

[m2-assistant]

Hi @hostep. Thank you for your report.
To speed up processing of this issue, make sure that you provided the following information:

• Summary of the issue
• Information on your environment
• Steps to reproduce
• Expected and actual results

Make sure that the issue is reproducible on the vanilla Magento instance following Steps to reproduce. To deploy vanilla Magento instance on our environment, Add a comment to the issue:

@magento give me 2.4-develop instance - upcoming 2.4.x release

For more details, review the Magento Contributor Assistant documentation.

Add a comment to assign the issue: @magento I am working on this

To learn more about issue processing workflow, refer to the Code Contributions.

---

• Join Magento Community Engineering Slack and ask your questions in #github channel.

⚠️ According to the Magento Contribution requirements, all issues must go through the Community Contributions Triage process. Community Contributions Triage is a public meeting.

🕙 You can find the schedule on the Magento Community Calendar page.

📞 The triage of issues happens in the queue order. If you want to speed up the delivery of your contribution, join the Community Contributions Triage session to discuss the appropriate ticket.

🎥 You can find the recording of the previous Community Contributions Triage on the Magento Youtube Channel

✏️ Feel free to post questions/proposals/feedback related to the Community Contributions Triage process to the corresponding Slack Channel

[m2-assistant]

Hi @engcom-Hotel. Thank you for working on this issue.
In order to make sure that issue has enough information and ready for development, please read and check the following instruction: 👇

• 1. Verify that issue has all the required information. (Preconditions, Steps to reproduce, Expected result, Actual result).

  Details

  If the issue has a valid description, the label Issue: Format is valid will be added to the issue automatically. Please, edit issue description if needed, until label Issue: Format is valid appears.

• 2. Verify that issue has a meaningful description and provides enough information to reproduce the issue. If the report is valid, add Issue: Clear Description label to the issue by yourself.

• 3. Add Component: XXXXX label(s) to the ticket, indicating the components it may be related to.

• 4. Verify that the issue is reproducible on 2.4-develop branch

  Details

  - Add the comment @magento give me 2.4-develop instance to deploy test instance on Magento infrastructure.
  - If the issue is reproducible on 2.4-develop branch, please, add the label Reproduced on 2.4.x.
  - If the issue is not reproducible, add your comment that issue is not reproducible and close the issue and stop verification process here!

• 5. Add label Issue: Confirmed once verification is complete.

• 6. Make sure that automatic system confirms that report has been added to the backlog.

[engcom-Hotel]

Dear @hostep,

Thanks for posting this issue!

I have checked the Magento database and found approx 142 columns with timestamp datatype. I am uploading the list of those tables and columns here. The issue is reproducible so confirming this issue.

Thanks

list-of-columns-with-timestamp-datatype.csv

[github-jira-sync-bot]

✅ Jira issue https://jira.corp.magento.com/browse/AC-1587 is successfully created for this GitHub issue.

[m2-assistant]

✅ Confirmed by @engcom-Hotel. Thank you for verifying the issue.
Issue Available: @engcom-Hotel, You will be automatically unassigned. Contributors/Maintainers can claim this issue to continue. To reclaim and continue work, reassign the ticket to yourself.