On Wed, 26 Mar 2008, Anders Johansson wrote:
On Tue, 2008-03-25 at 20:54 -0600, Boyd Lynn Gerber wrote:
I use it to record/keep a record of work done and what needs to be done. It is a personal preference. These disks are/were going to hold my work since 1984. I often do a ls -la on them. Having the time change from 1988 to 2008 really messes things up. I can not easily see what has been done. For example I client calls and want to know the last time I updated package XYZ. I quickly do a ls -la on the location and I can tell him. It was for example Jan 14 2001.
Isn't the obvious follow-up from the customer: ...and what did you change then? Using your method you would have to go through the time stamps on all files and look for the latest changes, and even then you might only be able to tell him which file was changed
No, but there is a change log in the directory should I need it. I know from my ls -la that the timestamp on the top level shows me the last time I worked on the application. When it is OSS I feed the changes back up. So the quick look gives me all I need. But when more information is needed then I run the apporiate utilities with svn or cvs.
With svn or cvs you ẃould have the answer immediately, without having to do anything extra
Extra step. What I need is a quick cursory date/time. When more is need you are correct, it is far easier to use the tools.
I think you're optimizing for the wrong problem.
Maybe, but I have been doing it this way since 1972-3. It is hard for an old dog like me to change.
But couldn't you at least maintain a changelog file? Files don't change their mtime, and you would also know immediately at least a brief description of what was changed
I do, so when I need that information it is there. It just is a lot
easier to do an ls -la, then to run the tools. I have to either login to
my build account or run the tools. Sometimes I have to look up the
commands I want. It all takes more time than the ls -la. I hate to have
to stop what I am doing, ssh in using the build account, then run the
tools. Far easier to just do an ls -la on the directory. All I need is a
quick cursory date/time. I do not need the detail. When I need the
detail it is easier to login.
I guess it is old habits, almost forty years of doing things this way.
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Boyd Gerber