date(1) produces multiple newlines when it should set date to date whose minutes are (at least) a minute in the future: tux root # date Thu Sep 2 21:54:28 CEST 2004 tux root # date -s "Thu Sep 2 21:54:28 CEST 2004" Thu Sep 2 21:54:28 CEST 2004 tux root # date -s "Thu Sep 2 21:55:28 CEST 2004" Thu Sep 2 21:55:28 CEST 2004 tux root # tux root # tux root # tux root # date -s "Thu Sep 2 21:55:28 CEST 2004" Thu Sep 2 21:55:28 CEST 2004 tux root # I.e. an additional newline and 3 superfluous prompts appear on the console (as if I typed 3 x Enter key).
OK, a small status update. This seems to be a xorg-x11/xfree issue as it only appears to happen when executed under X. I guess the timeshift into the future (a shift into the past doesn't cause this) is making X to read the Enter key several times from a buffer, causing the additional newlines and prompts.
Many apps are time-sensitive. Changing the system time can make them behave unpredictably or put them in an undetermined state. If you strace a running X app, you see that it makes many calls to gettimeofday(). Not much can be done about this.
