Thank you to
<alan_at_nabeth.cxo.dec.com>
lesc_at_icr.hcnet.usp.br
Eric Bennett <bennett_at_hpel.cees.edu>
Pirie Hart <pirie_at_u.washington.edu>
ajackson_at_iii.com (Anthony Jackson)
Charlie Joyner <cwj_at_nfuel.com>
Michael Matthews <matthewm_at_sgate.com>
Hans Ranke <Hans.Ranke_at_Regent.E-Technik.TU-Muenchen.DE>
Paul A Sand <pas_at_unh.edu>
Bob Sloane <SLOANE_at_KUHUB.CC.UKANS.EDU>
Summary:
Think of the inode as the file pointer. The inode contains all the
information about the file (# of links, owner, mode, permissions,
dates, ...). Things can change that which have little or nothing to
do with the data in the file.
>From the manual entry for stat(2),
st_atime
The time when file data was last accessed. This is changed by
the system calls mknod(2), utimes(2), and read(2). For
efficiency, st_atime is not set when a directory is searched.
st_mtime
The time when data was last modified. It is not set by changes
of owner, group, link count, or mode. It is changed by the
system calls mknod(2), utimes(2), and write(2).
st_ctime
The time when file status was last changed. It is set by writing
and changing the i-node. It can be changed by the following
system calls: chmod(2), chown(2), link(2), mknod(2), unlink(2),
utimes(2), and write(2).
Thus, changing file permissions or file owner or links to the file
can cause your dates to differ.
------------------------------
Laura Grabinski, Network Administrator
Aquinas College, 1607 Robinson RD SE, Grand Rapids MI 49506 USA
grabilau_at_aquinas.edu, 616-459-8281,
http://www.aquinas.edu
Received on Tue Oct 01 1996 - 18:19:55 NZST