Subject: Modification Dates in netatalk and samba
From: Jan Dockx (Jan.Dockx@cs.kuleuven.ac.be)
Date: Tue Oct 10 2000 - 17:39:44 EDT
We have a problem with modification dates on our linux/netatalk/samba
setup. We observed 2 strange phenomena today:
Somebody changed html files on the server this morning with a text
editor from Windows, via Samba. When we looked at the file
modification dates with a shell or via netatalk, or via the Windows
Properties window, the modification date was still yesterday evening,
i.e., the last time the files were changed from a Mac through
netatalk. The contents of the file was changed however.
Later today, we did a touch on the files via a shell. The
modification dates changed, we saw through the shell. The
modification dates also appeared changed via the Windows Properties
window. From a Mac however, in the Finder or in another application
(DreamWeaver), the files still showed a Modification Date of
yesterday evening.
Unmounting all volumes served from the server didn't help. We
restarted the entire machine, an repeated the experiments. Same
results.
The only way we could get the modification date to change on a Mac,
was by editing the files from a Mac through netatalk. The
modification date changed on the server (shell), on Windows (samba)
and on Mac (netatalk).
Then we thought that the modification date for Mac's might come from
the resource-fork-files in the .AppleDouble folder. But this didn't
fit the bill either.
Do we have 2 separate problems? It seems pretty amazing that samba
would be able to change files without changing the modification date.
Does samba bypass the unix file system? Does netatalk cache
modification dates somewhere? Very hard, then?
Please reply if you have encountered this strange behavior too, or if
you know how either samba or netatalk deals with modification dates.
--Jan Dockx - assistent (Jan.Dockx@cs.kuleuven.ac.be) K.U.Leuven, Department of Computer Science Celestijnenlaan 200 A 03.28; 3001 Heverlee; Belgium tel.: ++ 32/16/32 76 56 fax.: ++ 32/16/32 79 96 <http://www.cs.kuleuven.ac.be/~jand/> +---------------------------------------------------------------+ "I think I have figured out Microsoft's major plans for Win 2000. No longer will Microsoft's NT offer only a Blue Screen of Death. Microsoft will now offer the 'Screen of Death' in 5 colors." David Puett
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b28 : Wed Jan 17 2001 - 14:32:22 EST