Changing the timestamp of a symlink
Solution 1
add switch -h
touch -h -t 201301291810 myfile.txt
Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.
-a change only the access time
-c, --no-create do not create any files
-d, --date=STRING parse STRING and use it instead of current time
-f (ignored)
-h, --no-dereference affect each symbolic link instead of any referenced
file (useful only on systems that can change the
timestamps of a symlink)
-m change only the modification time
-r, --reference=FILE use this file's times instead of current time
-t STAMP use [[CC]YY]MMDDhhmm[.ss] instead of current time
Solution 2
You may need a more recent version of touch
. If this is not an option, and if you know C, you could write a small program to do it yourself using the lutimes function.
Solution 3
The atime and mtime of a symbolic link can be changed using the lutimes
function. The following program works for me on MacOSX and Linux to copy both times from an arbitrary file to a symbolic link:
#include <errno.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <sys/time.h>
int
main(int argc, char **argv)
{
struct timeval times[2];
struct stat info;
int rc;
if (argc != 3) {
fprintf(stderr, "usage: %s source target\n", argv[0]);
return 1;
}
rc = lstat(argv[1], &info);
if (rc != 0) {
fprintf(stderr, "error: cannot stat %s, %s\n", argv[1],
strerror(errno));
return 1;
}
times[0].tv_sec = info.st_atime;
times[0].tv_usec = 0;
times[1].tv_sec = info.st_mtime;
times[1].tv_usec = 0;
rc = lutimes(argv[2], times);
if (rc != 0) {
fprintf(stderr, "error: cannot set times on %s, %s\n", argv[2],
strerror(errno));
return 1;
}
return 0;
}
If you call the compiled file copytime
, then the command copytime file link
can be used to make link have the same atime and mtime as file
does. It shouldn't be too difficult to modify the program to use times specified on the command line instead of copying the times from another file.
Solution 4
A brute force way is as follows:
0. delete the old symlink you wish to change
1. change the system date to whatever date you want the symlink to be
2. remake the symlink
3. return the system date to current.
Related videos on Youtube
Comments
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amphibient over 1 year
I know how to change the timestamp of a regular file:
touch -t 201301291810 myfile.txt
I was not able to do the same with a symlink. Is it possible?
Distro: RHEL 5.8
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text about 11 yearsWhat is the problem you are trying to solve?
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text about 11 yearsBut why....what more global problem are you trying to address? Is this just asthetics, or does it have a real purpose?
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amphibient about 11 yearsthat is irrelevant. i am not going into my business logic
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text about 11 yearsThis type of information helps us all to get to a solution that would work for you. Its not irreleveant. Sorry you are so sensitive, I'm just trying to help.
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amphibient about 11 yearsdude, it is irrelevant. just go with the need for changing the timestamp as a given constant, invariable. you can question it all you want but it is not changing on my end. which makes the questioning pretty much useless, effectively. good luck
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chipimix over 2 years@mdpc, I have the same problem, I want to tune the order, which torrents are listed in my Transmission GUI.
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amphibient about 11 years> touch -h -t 201301291810 mysymlink -> touch: invalid option -- h Try `touch --help' for more information.
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text about 11 yearslook at the quote "useful only on systems that can change the timestamps of a symlink".
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Aquarius Power almost 10 yearsmade me curious, what system requires this? btw, any file created while you have not yet fixed the sytem date will have that timestamp too
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text almost 10 yearsBecause one is unable to modify the symlink inode once created.
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qodeninja over 4 yearsIf this is the correct answer, please mark it as such.
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Stephan over 4 years@qodeninja After over six years, I don't really expect the OP to mark it one way or the other.
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Mikko Rantalainen about 3 years@mdpc See
lutimes()
.