What action updates a file's ACCESS time?
Bill Irwin
bill at twg.bc.ca
Tue Nov 20 18:49:26 AEST 1990
I would like to know ALL the possible activities that could result in a file's
access time (ls -lu) being updated. I have performed the following, with the
noted result:
1) vi the file and quit without saving (access time updated)
2) TAR archive some files to tape (updated)
3) list file names to a file and printer
ls -l > /tmp/list (not updated)
ls -l | lp (not updated)
Are there any other actions that could be done that would update the access
times? Specifically, if you saw many directories of program source code files
(over 160 files) that had an access time between 6 and 7pm (after office
hours), would you conclude that someone had used an editor and looked at each
file within the hour, or would you conclude that the files had been archived
to tape or diskette?
I just thought of another action that would probably update the access time:
using grep to search the files for a pattern. I haven't tested this, but I
would assume that grep reads through the files looking for the pattern, which
would be the same type of activity as a vi on the file to the OS. This would
certainly be a far less sinister activity than archiving source code after
hours.
I would appreciate any tips in this direction.
--
Bill Irwin - The Westrheim Group - Vancouver, BC, Canada
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