per-file-timestamps

[Andrew Bennetts]

Michael Talbot-Wilson wrote:
[…]
> I thought --per-file-timestamps would export with the existing
> mtimes.  I thought and think that if a file has not been m'ed its mtime
> should not change.

Not quite; IIRC it exports files with the timestamp of the last commit
that modified that file.

If all the files were last changed (or added) in one commit, then
they'll all have the same timestamp in the export (matching the
timestamp of the commit).  If say half the files were added in a second
commit then you'd see a difference in the output of export with and
without --per-file-timestamps.

> What am I doing wrong?  How is bazaar made to preserve mtimes when
> there is no modification?

It doesn't have that capability builtin.  It would be possible to write
a plugin to record and use that information (just like etckeeper does
with file permissions).

-Andrew.