Posted by Michael Austin on 02/14/06 05:11

Gordon Burditt wrote:

>>>>If not is there some other way of getting the created date of a file?
>>
>>>Very few operating systems keep the created date of a file.
>>
>>It's not about Operating Systems (Win, Linux, Mac), but File Systems (FAT,
>>NTFS, HPFS, UFS, ext2, ext3, ReiserFS, XFS, JFS).
>>
>>Different filesystems keep different metadata about the files, but most of
>>them don't keep track of the creation time of the file. Have a look at
>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stat_(Unix) for a better understanding of the
>>"ctime" field, which will be, in most cases, the closest you'll get to the
>>file creation time. Also, have a look at
>
>
> I disagree. On filesystems where both exist, *mtime*, not ctime
> will be the closest to the file creation time. Unless someone has
> been manually fiddling with the time stamps (as, for example, a tar
> extract will do), ctime >= mtime.
>
> Gordon L. Burditt

Gordon

one of the reasons I like OpenVMS/RMS file system - while not impossible to
change, they are much more difficult than say your average UNIX file systems.

Created: 15-JUN-2004 08:59:14.67
Revised: 21-FEB-2005 05:05:51.56 (33) <-- how many times it has been modified
Expires: <None specified> <-- expire the file after this date
Backup: 25-OCT-2005 23:38:24.52 <== last date backed up (a bit out of date)
Effective: <None specified>
Recording: <None specified>
Accessed: <None specified>
Attributes: <None specified>

lots of bits to twiddle :) And I can notify the operator when a file is touched
for any reason (security and auditing).

unfortunately not in wide-spread use these days...

--
Michael Austin.
Consultant
Donations welcomed. Http://www.firstdbasource.com/donations.html
:)

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