Re: CVS thinks a file is up-to-date even after it's modified

[Larry Jones]

Yu Fang writes:
> 
> I wonder how CVS determines whether a file is up-to-date.
> I guess it uses some sort of time stamp and the change may
> have happened too quickly that the time stamp didn't get
> changed.

As you guessed, CVS first checks the timestamp; if it's the same as the
last checkout time, CVS presumes the file is unmodified.  If not, it
compares the file to the corresponding revision in the repository to
find out for sure whether it has been modified or not.  CVS contains
code that's intended to ensure that it's not possible to modify the file
without changing the timestamp, but it assumes that the filesystem's
timestamp granularity is 1 second which is not true for DOS (it's
granularity is 2 seconds), so my guess is that your working directory is
on a DOS-like filesystem.  If so, you should add a 1 second sleep to
your script to ensure that the file's timestamp gets updated.

-Larry Jones

I think your train of thought is a runaway. -- Calvin's Mom