samba - Oct 2004 - Timestamp problem

Hi

When new files or copied files are putted in a Samba share (3.0.2
Solaris) from Win clients, it has no time stamp, only date stamp,
example:

-rwxr--r--   1 me me 740762 Oct 11  2004 test.jpg

It only shows the date. Our application relies on time stamps to process
the files (actually ftp is the method to move files) so that breaks the
application.

We would like to use Samba instead and that seems the only problem to
deploy it. Any clue on that ?

regards

Guillermo Gomez
Caracas/Venezuela

>
>Hi
>
>When new files or copied files are putted in a Samba share (3.0.2
>Solaris) from Win clients, it has no time stamp, only date stamp,
>example:
>
>-rwxr--r--   1 me me 740762 Oct 11  2004 test.jpg
This looks like an 'ls' command.

Also, you have a slight misunderstanding of UNIX timestamps.

Every file has a full time stamp with time and date. However,
the 'ls' command shows the time stamp in one of two different ways:-

   either 'Mon DD  YYYY'  or  'Mon  DD HH:MM'


It chooses the second form if the file has been modified within
the last three months.  It chooses the first form (with the year)
if the file's modification time is not within the last three months.

The important thing here is that when the time stamp on a file is _ahead_
of the current time, then the 'within the last three months' test fails.

I'll bet that you file has a timestamp that's further ahead in time than
the system clock of the server you ran the 'ls' command on.


Here's a rough timeline  ('the past' on the left, 'the
future' on the right)


 <------------+--------+--------+--------N------------->
              3        2        1        o
                                         w

              |--------------------------|   


The number represent months.  The lower line is the period for which
'ls' will display the 'Mon DD HH:MM' format.  I think the
timestamp
on your file is to the right of 'Now'.


There's various things you can do to check this.  If your OS has
a command 'stat' then that will show you all the timestamps in full
detail.


Or you can use the 'stat' function in perl maybe, or the stat(2) system
call.

Or, you can wait for a few hours, until the time on your server "catches
up"
with the timestamp on the file and then 'ls' will display what
you're
looking for.

Remember all of this does not in any way affect the actual timestamp,
just the way 'ls' presents it to you.



The underlying problme is almost certainly one of time-syncing.  Or TimeZone
differences.  Have a look at all of them.  And have a look at the timestamp
from a client machine too.




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