[SLL] What is a file's "birth" date?

[John W. Baxter]

On 5/20/05 12:56 PM, "Robert Woodcock" <rcw at blarg.net> wrote:

> A file's ctime is NOT its creation time. It is, apparently, its "status
> change time". IMHO this is a violation of the principle of least surprise.

Well, I am not surprised (because I long ago realized that creation time
isn't saved).  Seems to me that c for changed is as unsurprising as c for
creation.

Mac users are accustomed to having creation time available (although some
file copy programs get it wrong and apply the creation time from the
original to the copy...others get it right, in which case the modified time
may well be earlier than the creation time).

I suspect Windows users are too (although I don't use Windows enough to
remember).

Unix predated both.

  --John