begin quoting James G. Sack (jim) as of Sun, Aug 17, 2008 at 12:58:43PM -0700: > SJS wrote: > > begin quoting Carl Lowenstein as of Fri, Aug 15, 2008 at 10:23:00PM -0700: [snip] > >> I rather like the fact that > >> wget preserves the original timestamp, since that is a property of the > >> original file, not of the fact that I downloaded it at some later > >> time. > > > > That information is not trustworthy, so I'm with Ralph; the time that I > > downloaded a file is significant, the time that someone else SAYS they > > touched the file is suspect. > > > > If it were useful, it could be modified and be used to fool me. > > > > If it's not useful, there's no need to worry about it. > > At the risk of pushing the cycle around some more, I notice that this > thread reveals there is always more than one POV. Surely you mean "valid POV". :)
> This may not add much, but my view is sympathetic to cdl's observation > about the context being that of syncing with repository sources -- not > that he used exactly those words. Um... I missed the thread of your logic. Expand and expound, please? > The filename, size, and mtime are > useful metadata for this purpose, despite being both insufficient and > untrustworthy. These defects can be dealt with in various ways, which > would be another conversation. Yes, let's have that conversation. The filename is just a label that you, the user, can change at will, and wget will do so as well. The curl command doesn't even give you that -- you, the user, need to decide on the local filename. Size should *never* be obtained from the remote source -- it should be calculated from the object itself, locally, always. Remote reports of the purported size should be treated as a guideline for the user, but not as transmitted metadata. And we've already discussed mtime. How do you see these 'defects' being dealt with? -- HTTP is a lousy way to synchronize filesystems - use rsync for that. Stewart Stremler -- KPLUG-List@kernel-panic.org http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
