From e58b6870c3691067fe21562626e6958a4d3bf293 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Dave Gardner <dg@hailocab.com>
Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2013 10:46:24 +0100
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] Adding support for marshaling/unmarshaling zero time, by
 storing as empty bytes

---
 src/gossie/types.go | 11 +++++++++++
 1 file changed, 11 insertions(+)

diff --git a/src/gossie/types.go b/src/gossie/types.go
index bffca9c..45ad14c 100644
--- a/src/gossie/types.go
+++ b/src/gossie/types.go
@@ -229,7 +229,12 @@ func marshalInt(value int64, size int, typeDesc TypeDesc) ([]byte, error) {
 }
 
 func marshalTime(value time.Time, typeDesc TypeDesc) ([]byte, error) {
+	if value.IsZero() {
+		return []byte{}, nil
+	}
+
 	switch typeDesc {
+
 	// following Java conventions Cassandra standarizes this as millis
 	case LongType, BytesType, DateType:
 		valueI := value.UnixNano() / 1e6
@@ -421,6 +426,12 @@ func unmarshalInt64(b []byte, typeDesc TypeDesc, value *int64) error {
 }
 
 func unmarshalTime(b []byte, typeDesc TypeDesc, value *time.Time) error {
+
+	if len(b) == 0 {
+		*value = *new(time.Time)
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	switch typeDesc {
 	case LongType, BytesType, DateType:
 		if len(b) != 8 {

From f3e3a890ad73bf5ca17db51afc7ca3782d9acd29 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Dave Gardner <dg@hailocab.com>
Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2013 11:00:11 +0100
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] Adding a test for zero time

---
 src/gossie/types_test.go | 19 +++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 19 insertions(+)

diff --git a/src/gossie/types_test.go b/src/gossie/types_test.go
index 2a48f90..4578afd 100644
--- a/src/gossie/types_test.go
+++ b/src/gossie/types_test.go
@@ -374,3 +374,22 @@ func TestMarshalTime(t *testing.T) {
 	errorMarshal(t, v, BooleanType)
 	errorMarshal(t, v, DoubleType)
 }
+
+func TestMarshalUnmarshalZeroTime(t *testing.T) {
+	zeroT := *new(time.Time)
+	b, err := marshalTime(zeroT, LongType)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Failed to marshal time: %v", err)
+	}
+	// now get back to where we were
+	unmarshaledT := new(time.Time)
+	err = unmarshalTime(b, LongType, unmarshaledT)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Failed to unmarshal time: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	// must still be zero time
+	if !unmarshaledT.IsZero() {
+		t.Fatalf("Unmarshaled time is not zero time: %#v", unmarshaledT)
+	}
+}