(let* ((start (pcase key
(`interactive (org-read-date nil t nil "Range start? "))
;; In theory, all clocks started after the dawn of
- ;; humanity.
- (`untilnow (encode-time 0 0 0 0 0 -50000))
+ ;; humanity. However, the platform's clock
+ ;; support might not go back that far. Choose the
+ ;; POSIX timestamp -2**41 (approximately 68,000
+ ;; BCE) if that works, otherwise -2**31 (1901) if
+ ;; that works, otherwise 0 (1970). Going back
+ ;; billions of years would loop forever on Mac OS
+ ;; X 10.6 with Emacs 26 and earlier (Bug#27736).
+ (`untilnow
+ (let ((old 0))
+ (dolist (older '((-32768 0) (-33554432 0)) old)
+ (when (ignore-errors (decode-time older))
+ (setq old older)))))
(_ (encode-time 0 m h d month y))))
(end (pcase key
(`interactive (org-read-date nil t nil "Range end? "))