adding a TIME variable?

[Mike Harding]

I am porting some apache rewrite rules that use the TIME variable (just
unix epoch, seconds since 1/1/1970).  What would be my best option for
nginx?

I could

- modify the code to provide a $time variable
- use fgci
- use the embedded perl option
- proxy to an apache server

any other options?  How much work would be involved with the first
option?  I am an accomplished C programmer and could provide patches
back to the project...

- Mike H.