Russell Yanofsky wrote:
>Branko Cibej wrote:
>
>
>>Oh, by the way: lying about the modification time of a directory is
>>generally not a good idea, and it's not something "make" is
>>interested in. Let's think carefully about what we want to achieve
>>here before starting to change directory mtimes.
>>...
>>It's simple with files, not so simple with directories -- as we've
>>found
>>to our detriment (remember all the ghurson problems).
>>
>>
>
>I tried searching back for ghudson/directory timestamp posts, but couldn't find
>anything. Do you remember (generally) what the problems were about?
>
The infamous "ghudson problems" are about versioning directories, not
specifically about timestamps. They demonstrate that version controlled
directories are way more complex beasts than you'd imagine.
>I can't imagine why there would be any problem.
>
Yes, I see. Doesn't mean there isn't one. :-)
>Why would an OS implement a
>function to set an arbitrary directory time if it couldn't actually handle
>arbitrary directory times? And if ubiquitous tools like 'tar' and 'touch' can
>set directory times freely, why can't 'svn export'?
>
It's not about whether dir mtimes can/should be set, but _how_ to do it
correctly in a version-controlled environment.
>I think it would be a mistake to treat file times differently than directory
>times without some specific reason for doing so.
>
>
It would be a vastly bigger mistake to start fiddling with directory
mtimes without understanding the issues.
--
Brane Čibej <brane_at_xbc.nu> http://www.xbc.nu/brane/
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Received on Thu Jul 10 08:29:16 2003