@c GNU date syntax documentation
-@c Copyright (C) 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
-@c 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+@c Copyright (C) 1994-2006, 2009-2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
@c Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
@c under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
@cindex MacKenzie, David
@cindex Meyering, Jim
@cindex Eggert, Paul
-@code{get_date} was originally implemented by Steven M. Bellovin
+@code{parse_datetime} started life as @code{getdate}, as originally
+implemented by Steven M. Bellovin
(@email{smb@@research.att.com}) while at the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill. The code was later tweaked by a couple of people on
Usenet, then completely overhauled by Rich $alz (@email{rsalz@@bbn.com})
and Jim Berets (@email{jberets@@bbn.com}) in August, 1990. Various
revisions for the @sc{gnu} system were made by David MacKenzie, Jim Meyering,
-Paul Eggert and others, including renaming it to @code{parse_datetime}
-to avoid confusion with the Posix function @code{getdate}.
+Paul Eggert and others, including renaming it to @code{get_date} to
+avoid a conflict with the alternative Posix function @code{getdate},
+and a later rename to @code{parse_datetime}. The Posix function
+@code{getdate} can parse more locale-specific dates using
+@code{strptime}, but relies on an environment variable and external
+file, and lacks the thread-safety of @code{parse_datetime}.
@cindex Pinard, F.
@cindex Berry, K.