This is the mail archive of the cygwin mailing list for the Cygwin project.


Index Nav: [Date Index] [Subject Index] [Author Index] [Thread Index]
Message Nav: [Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next]
Other format: [Raw text]

Re: ctime updated unexpectedly


>Hi everyone,
>> 
>> I wonder if someone could clear up an issue I'm having with ls -c 
(sorting 
>> files by ctime). As I understand it, the ctime is only updated when 
file 
>> status information (such as permissions) changes, or a file is 
completely 
>> recreated. It looks to me though, like the ctime is being updated every 

>> time the contents of a file change.

>You misunderstand ctime, as specified by POSIX.  See http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/basedefs/xbd_chap04.html, section 4.7, and >various other places within POSIX.  ctime is required 
to reflect any change to a file's metadata _or contents_.  Also, while 
mtime can be >arbitrarily changed (think utimes()), ctime is supposed to 
be an accurate side effect of file modification that cannot be spoofed.

OK, thanks for the advice. Do you know if there is any way I can get the 
information I was expecting. If not, I'll have to make some major changes 
to some complicated shell scripts :(

>> 
>> :.________________
>> CONFIDENTIALITY : This  e-mail  and  any attachments are confidential 
and 
>> may be privileged. If  you are not a named recipient, please notify the 

>> sender immediately and do not disclose the contents to another person, 
use 
>> it for any purpose or store or copy the information in any medium.

>Disclaimers like this to a public mailing list are not wise; some people 
refuse to respond to messages with such a disclaimer.

Oops, my bad.

>--
>Eric Blake

--
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/


Index Nav: [Date Index] [Subject Index] [Author Index] [Thread Index]
Message Nav: [Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next]