[cvsnt] Cvs update affecting timestamps on directories unnecessarily

[Arthur Barrett]

Manish,

> I'm using CVSNT 2.5.03 Build 2382 on Windows XP Professional SP2. The
> CVS server is a Solaris machine running "Concurrent Versions System
> (CVS) 1.11.20 (client/server)"

Consider upgrading to CVSNT 2.5.03 Build 2382 Server on Solaris.

> When I execute a 'cvs update -d' or a 'cvs update -P', some (random)
> directories receive a modification timestamp of the update, 
> even though
> no files within those directories have changed. 

I've not heard of that happening before - CVSNT does not directly modify
the directory timestamp (that is done by windows) so this implies that
some file is changing (perhaps one of the CVS control files in the
hidden CVS directory?).  I think it's entirely reasonable though that -d
or -P could add or remove directories, which would change the timestamp
of the parent directory.

I've just ran a simple test of "cvs up -d" with a CVSNT server and
client running the latest commercial release and it does not have the
behaviour you describe.

I suggest you take a copy of the repository to a different solaris,
hpux, linux, mac or windows server where you have CVSNT installed and
then retry the test using CVSNT server.  If the problem still occurs
then report back and we'll get you to upgrade to the current 2.5.04
testing release and re-test and if the problem still occurs we will get
you to do some traces to help find where the problem is.

Since I can't reproduce this with a CVSNT server I suspect that the
behaviour is caused by the old CVS server.

> This causes a problem because our build process looks at the
> modification timestamp of files and directories to detect 

It's very odd for a build system to use the modification time of a
directory to initiate a build - far more common for the 'timestamp' of
the file to be used.

Regards,


Arthur Barrett