diff --git a/loslib.c b/loslib.c
index b301681f..6d0008c3 100644
--- a/loslib.c
+++ b/loslib.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
-** $Id: loslib.c,v 1.43 2014/02/26 15:55:58 roberto Exp roberto $
+** $Id: loslib.c,v 1.44 2014/03/12 20:57:40 roberto Exp roberto $
 ** Standard Operating System library
 ** See Copyright Notice in lua.h
 */
@@ -20,10 +20,10 @@
 #include "lualib.h"
 
 
+#if !defined(LUA_STRFTIMEOPTIONS)	/* { */
 /*
 ** list of valid conversion specifiers for the 'strftime' function
 */
-#if !defined(LUA_STRFTIMEOPTIONS)
 
 #if !defined(LUA_USE_POSIX)
 #define LUA_STRFTIMEOPTIONS	{ "aAbBcdHIjmMpSUwWxXyYz%", "" }
@@ -34,15 +34,27 @@
 	  "O", "deHImMSuUVwWy" }
 #endif
 
-#endif
+#endif					/* } */
 
 
 
+#if !defined(l_time_t)		/* { */
+/*
+** type to represent time_t in Lua
+*/
+#define l_timet			lua_Integer
+#define l_pushtime(L,t)		lua_pushinteger(L,(lua_Integer)(t))
+#define l_checktime(L,a)	((time_t)luaL_checkinteger(L,a))
+
+#endif				/* } */
+
+
+
+#if !defined(lua_tmpnam)	/* { */
 /*
 ** By default, Lua uses tmpnam except when POSIX is available, where it
 ** uses mkstemp.
 */
-#if !defined(lua_tmpnam)	/* { */
 
 #if defined(LUA_USE_POSIX)	/* { */
 
@@ -65,11 +77,12 @@
 #endif				/* } */
 
 
+
+#if !defined(l_gmtime)		/* { */
 /*
 ** By default, Lua uses gmtime/localtime, except when POSIX is available,
 ** where it uses gmtime_r/localtime_r
 */
-#if !defined(l_gmtime)		/* { */
 
 #if defined(LUA_USE_POSIX)	/* { */
 
@@ -204,7 +217,7 @@ static const char *checkoption (lua_State *L, const char *conv, char *buff) {
 
 static int os_date (lua_State *L) {
   const char *s = luaL_optstring(L, 1, "%c");
-  time_t t = luaL_opt(L, (time_t)luaL_checkinteger, 2, time(NULL));
+  time_t t = luaL_opt(L, l_checktime, 2, time(NULL));
   struct tm tmr, *stm;
   if (*s == '!') {  /* UTC? */
     stm = l_gmtime(&t, &tmr);
@@ -265,17 +278,18 @@ static int os_time (lua_State *L) {
     ts.tm_isdst = getboolfield(L, "isdst");
     t = mktime(&ts);
   }
-  if (t == (time_t)(-1))
+  if (t != (time_t)(l_timet)t)
+    luaL_error(L, "time result cannot be represented in this Lua instalation");
+  else if (t == (time_t)(-1))
     lua_pushnil(L);
   else
-    lua_pushinteger(L, t);
+    l_pushtime(L, t);
   return 1;
 }
 
 
 static int os_difftime (lua_State *L) {
-  lua_pushnumber(L, difftime((time_t)(luaL_checkinteger(L, 1)),
-                             (time_t)(luaL_optinteger(L, 2, 0))));
+  lua_pushnumber(L, difftime((l_checktime(L, 1)), (l_checktime(L, 2))));
   return 1;
 }