date --date "4:59:54 1 hour 53 min 46 sec ago"

[Tom Rodman]

Not sure if this is cygwin specific, but it seems like a problem
in gnu date:

  ~ $ date;uname -a; cygcheck -c cygwin
  Wed Jan 28 09:30:54 CST 2009
  CYGWIN_NT-5.1 neon 1.5.25(0.156/4/2) 2008-06-12 19:34 i686 Cygwin
  Cygwin Package Information
  Package              Version        Status
  cygwin               1.5.25-15      OK
  ~ $ cygcheck -f /usr/bin/date
  coreutils-6.10-2
  ~ $ date --date "4:59:54 1 hour 53 min 46 sec ago"
  Wed Jan 28 06:52:08 CST 2009
  ~ $
  --snip/switch to linux box:
  ~ $ uname -a
  Linux alex 2.6.5-1.358 #1 Sat May 8 09:04:50 EDT 2004 i686 athlon i386 
GNU/Linux
  ~ $ rpm -qf /bin/date
  coreutils-5.2.1-7
  ~ $ date --date "4:59:54 1 hour 53 min 46 sec ago"
  Wed Jan 28 03:06:08 CST 2009
  ~ $

Notice that the linux box does what I think to be the right thing.
The behavior in cygwin is not new, it goes back to at least
1.5.20.  Which result is considered correct?  If the coreutils-6.10-2
(cygwin) behavior is correct, is there a new way to express what
I wanted?

--
regards,
Tom Rodman