Unsure why access time on a directory change isn't changing Post: 303037890

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Top Forums UNIX for Beginners Questions & Answers Unsure why access time on a directory change isn't changing Post 303037890 by hicksd8 on Thursday 15th of August 2019 05:12:14 PM

08-15-2019

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You didn't say which operating system this is but there has to be difference between read and open. If you think about it, if a read updated the access time then all the access times would change when a backup is run which wouldn't be any good if you had to restore the whole lot. However, if an application opens a file then that will update the access time. For example, if you open a file with vi and then immediately quit with :q!, the access time should update because the file has been specifically opened. Additionally, if youvi followed by :w! (even if you haven't changed anything) the file will be written back so the modified date should change.

Now with a directory it is holding the details of its files so if a new file is created the directory is modified. Also, if an application specifically opens a file with that directory in its pathname (and blocks may need to be allocated/deallocated to the file), then the access time should change.

You should be able to verify this on your operating system with a few tests.

Last edited by hicksd8; 08-16-2019 at 05:20 AM..

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utime.h

utime.h(3HEAD)                                                        Headers                                                       utime.h(3HEAD)

NAME

       utime.h, utime - access and modification times structure

SYNOPSIS

       #include <utime.h>

DESCRIPTION

       The <utime.h> header declares the structure utimbuf, which includes the following members:

       time_t actime     /* access time */
       time_t modtime    /* modification time */

       The times are measured in seconds since the Epoch.

       The type time_t is defined as described in <sys/types.h>.

ATTRIBUTES

       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE         |      ATTRIBUTE VALUE        |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Interface Stability          |Standard                     |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

SEE ALSO

       utime(2), types.h(3HEAD), attributes(5), standards(5)

SunOS 5.10                                                          10 Sep 2004                                                     utime.h(3HEAD)