Re: import files preserving timestamps

From: "Mark Reibert" / Sent: Sat, June 07, 2008 12:22 AM
> On Fri, 2008-06-06 at 21:04 +0200, Erik Huelsmann wrote:
>> On Fri, Jun 6, 2008 at 1:44 PM, stephan herschel wrote:
>>>
>>> [...] I understand that subversion up to this day does not preserve
>>> timestamps when importing files into a repository
>
> I am always a bit suspicious when people request this "feature".

Why the quotes? It _is_ a reasonable feature to expect, and just because
SVN happens to not support it (yet) doesn't make it any less so.

> At least if you are managing compilable software this seems to be, in
> fact, quite undesirable. [...]

Perhaps. Same applies, however, to using commit timestamps, which is an
available option. Adding a feature does not mean forcing it upon those
who have (or see) no use for it.

> Perhaps there is some other rationale for preserving timestamps with
> which I am not familiar.

Life outside SVN goes on a clock, and sometimes the worlds collide.
Cases could be made up where it may matter, for example, whether a
file was modified before vs. after a system crash, or a compiler/library
update, or even on a weekday vs. weekend.

IMHO however such examples should not be necessary. What's being asked
is essentially a "restore metadata" (along with data) option, which
would be a reasonable and fitting feature on its own merits. Stephan's
allusion to the structure rework gives me (longterm) hope that this will
be seriously considered when the time comes.

Unless, of course, there is some other rationale for denying the option
to preserve timestamps which escapes me ;-)

Liviu

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Received on 2008-06-07 09:20:19 CEST