FileUtils changes date of file

ruby-talk
1

Hi,

I use ruby under WinXP and discovered the following issue.

When I copy a file with the following code

require 'fileutils'
FileUtils.cp("file1','file2')

the date of the destination file won't match the date of the source
file.
It's set to the time of the copy process. But it should be the date of
the original file.
How can I get this working correct?

Thanks
  Peter

2

First of all: this is expected behavior and is similar to what cp does. So this is in no way "incorrect" even though your expectation was different because Windows Explorer handles this differently.

To retain meta data do

FileUtils.cp("file1','file2', :preserve => true)

Kind regards

  robert

···

On 14.05.2007 12:16, Peter.Meier998@gmx.de wrote:

I use ruby under WinXP and discovered the following issue.

When I copy a file with the following code

require 'fileutils'
FileUtils.cp("file1','file2')

the date of the destination file won't match the date of the source
file.
It's set to the time of the copy process. But it should be the date of
the original file.
How can I get this working correct?

3

Consider it a difference between copying a file and cloning. Copying would be the same as what you normally do with a mouse in the GUI. Cloning would be more like what backup/restore software does with file.
Sure, we can argue that the two things are the same in everyday language, but it's all built on the logic of whoever first built the thing, and we can never really assume much of anything about what some computer term means.

···

On May 14, 2007, at 7:35 PM, Robert Klemme wrote:

On 14.05.2007 12:16, Peter.Meier998@gmx.de wrote:

I use ruby under WinXP and discovered the following issue.
When I copy a file with the following code
require 'fileutils'
FileUtils.cp("file1','file2')
the date of the destination file won't match the date of the source
file.
It's set to the time of the copy process. But it should be the date of
the original file.
How can I get this working correct?

First of all: this is expected behavior and is similar to what cp does. So this is in no way "incorrect" even though your expectation was different because Windows Explorer handles this differently.

To retain meta data do

FileUtils.cp("file1','file2', :preserve => true)

Kind regards

  robert