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TrueDate Archive "True Date" Stamp Utility, version 1.20 Manual Copyright 1993 by David G. Fisher. All rights reserved. Introduction What is TrueDate?.....................................3 Disclaimer............................................4 Documentation.........................................5 Using TrueDate Description of Syntax.................................6 Using TrueDate........................................8 Using TrueDate for Sysops.............................9 Maximus - Last Write Date vs. Creation Date.....10 TrueDate Users Manual Page 3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- What is TrueDate? TrueDate is a utility that will reset the dates for archive files to a more appropriate "true" date. Many times, the files within an archive are much older than the actual date of the archive itself. The true date of the archive may be changed to a newer date for a variety of reasons. System BBS operators may set the date of an archive to the current date so users know that the file is new to their BBS. Or, the archive may be manually re-packed using a different archival method. In short, there are a plethora of reasons that the true date of the archive can change. I could not find a program to reset the date of archives under OS/2. Therefore, I wrote this program. While it is primarily intended as a tool for my BBS, it may also be useful to the end user who wants to set the dates on their archives to something more appropriate so they can determine it's true age at a glance in the directory. TrueDate uses a simple method to determine the true date of an archive. TrueDate creates a listing of the archive, and then finds the date of the NEWEST file within the archive. It then sets the date of the archive to this date. Archivers can be defined in the TrueDate configuration file. Currently, TrueDate is only available for OS/2 2.x. The most recent TrueDate release is always available here with the magic File Request name of TRUEDATE. Dave Fisher LiveNet, 1:170/110@fidonet.org 40:4372/0 (ibmNET) 81:202/201 (OS2NET) Please don't hesitate to send suggestions. Find a bug and I'll promptly try to make a new version, or at least a temporary work- around, available to you. Please send me mail in any event! I want to know if TrueDate has proved as useful for others as it has for me. TrueDate Users Manual Page 4 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer This program is shareware. There is absolutely no warranty for this program or guarantee it will work. The user of this program assumes all risk. While I feel confident this program will not harm your system in any way, by using this program, you agree to assume full responsibility for any adverse effect to your system. While I don't demand a contribution, if you find this program useful and would like to contribute to ongoing shareware development, please feel free to send a contribution of $10 or more to: Dave Fisher 5131 East 88th Court Tulsa, Ok. 74137 USA Where applicable, all trademarks referred to here are the property of their owners. TrueDate Users Manual Page 5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Documentation There are three document files that describe TrueDate. TRUEDATE.DOC The file you are reading is a basic description and introduction to TRUEDATE. HISTORY.DOC History of changes to TrueDate should serve as a good reference to track new TrueDate enhancements as they are added. TRUEDATE.CFG The accompanying TRUEDATE.CFG configuration file is heavily documented and demonstrates how I use TrueDate on my system. It is a companion to this document, included to illustrate how TrueDate's default settings are modified and how new Archiver programs are defined. TrueDate Users Manual Page 6 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Description of Syntax TrueDate ArcFileName [, ArcFileName, ...] /Config = <path+file name> default: TRUEDATE.CFG /[no]Log default: NoLog /LogFile = <path+file name> default: None /LogLevel = <1..4> default: 4 /[no]Quiet default: NoQuiet /[no]LastWriteDate default: LastWriteDate /[no]CreationDate default: NoCreationDate /[no]TestOnly default: NoTestOnly Notes on the syntax: Qualifiers can appear in any order, in any case, and are only significant to four characters. /LogFile, for instance, is the same as /logf. Qualifiers Config = <path+file name> This is the name of the configuration file. The default is TRUEDATE.CFG in the current directory. If you prefer, you can define an environment variable using the DOS SET command instead, with the following syntax: Set TRUEDATE_CONFIG=<path+filename> /[no]Log This qualifier will turn the logging function on and off. Default is NoLog. /LogFile = <path+file name> This qualifier defines the name of the log file. /LogLevel = <1..4> This qualifier defines the level of log file detail. Level 1 is the least detailed, while Level 4 is the most verbose. The levels indicate the 'importance' of a message, where Level 1 is the most important (usually error messages). /[no]Quiet This qualifier controls whether TrueDate should print detailed output to the "standard output device", which is normally the screen. Set it to /Quiet and all you see are the program copyright line and any error messages. The default is /NoQuiet. /[no]LastWriteDate TrueDate Users Manual Page 7 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This qualifier controls whether TrueDate will reset the "Last Write" date under OS/2. This is the default action of TrueDate. Most programs, including the basic "dir" command, will use and display this date. /[no]CreationDate This qualifier controls whether TrueDate will reset the "Creation" date under OS/2. The default action of TrueDate will NOT set the creation date of the archive. Many times, it is beneficial to leave the Creation date alone, so it will reflect the true date the archive was actually created, and set the Last Write to the "true" date of the archive. However, this default action of TrueDate can be overridden by specifying /CreationDate on the command line. /[no]TestOnly If this qualifier is specified as /TestOnly (or /Test), then TrueDate will analyze the indicated archives and report the changes it would have made if not run in test mode. TrueDate Users Manual Page 8 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Using TrueDate TrueDate is simple to use. The most basic form is as follows: TrueDate [ArcFileName] where 'ArcFileName' is the name of the archive which is to have its date reset. 'ArcFileName' can include wildcard matches such as "*.ZIP", or even "*.*" which will reset the time stamp on every archive defined in the current directory. Multiple archive file matches can be included, also. However, all 'ArcFileName's MUST be separated by commas on the command line, not spaces. For example, if you want to time stamp all *.ARJ and *.LZH files and one specific ZIP file called "XYZ.ZIP", you would execute the following: TrueDate *.ARJ, *.LZH, XYZ.ZIP Full paths can also be specified such as: TrueDate f:\max\files\os2\newup\*.* TrueDate Users Manual Page 9 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Using TrueDate for Sysops I invoke TrueDate each time I detect *.TIC files in my inbound directory. The following is an OS/2 REXX procedure I use: isfile "c:\binkley\inbound\*.tic" if ( rc <= 0 ) then return /* No *.TIC files received */ call bbslog "Tick", "Initiating TICK Processing" /* * Set the archive dates to the "True" archive date. */ truedate "c:\binkley\inbound\* /Quiet" /* * Now call TICK to do the actual distribution */ "c:" cd "\bbs\tick" TICP ">> c:\bbs\logs\tick.log" .... [and so on.] If there are *.TIC files found in the inbound directory, I run TrueDate BEFORE I run Tick. After TrueDate has reset the dates on any archives found within the inbound directory, I run Tick and any other appropriate post-Tick processing. Also, after I wrote TrueDate, I ran the program on every directory of downloadable files. Thus, every archive on the system now reflected an accurate, true date of the archive. This is not only helpful to you, the Sysop, but also to your users calling in. They also will now know the true "age" of an archive without having to look inside the archive itself. TrueDate Users Manual Page 10 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- :Maximus - Last Write Date vs. Creation Date Since Maximus was originally written under DOS, support for the multiple dates associated with a file under OS/2 is minimal. Searches for "new" files by users on the BBS becomes a problem. How do you define "new?" What date do you display (the "last write" date or "creation" date) when it is found? Under Maximus 2.00, this is controlled by the program FB.EXE (the Filebase Build command). There are two version of FB.EXE which are important to note since they handle the dates of files differently. FB.EXE bundled with Maximus 2.00: The version of FB which comes with the initial release will build a database of all downloadable file sections using the "creation" date of the file. Thus, any file searches based on date (especially using the "NewFiles" MECCA token) will search for files based on the "creation" date and display this date to the caller. FB.EXE bundled with Maximus 2.01/wb: This version of FB which comes bundled in the 2.01/wide beta version of Maximus will build a database of all downloadable file sections using the "last write" date of the file. Thus, any file searches based on date will search for files based on the "last write" dat and display this date to the caller. The change in the wide beta version has caused quite a bit of consternation among OS/2 Maximus Sysops. In order to announce new file arrivals, the Sysop must actually change the "last write" date of the archive to the CURRENT date it was received on the system. Many systems use a Unix-like Touch program to accomplish this. Unfortunately, the true date of that archive is now lost, and actually misrepresents that actual age of the archive. In my opinion, setting the "last write" date to the date the archive was received on a particular BBS clouds the issue of the true age of an archive for both Sysops and users alike. The more appropriate way of dealing with this is to set the "last write" date to the true date of the archive and display this date to users when the scan for new files. However, the scan itself should be based on the CREATION DATE of the archive. Thus, users will quickly identify new files that have arrived on the BBS system, but will be presented with the "true age" of the archive when it is displayed to them. Currently, OS/2 Maximus sysops can only partially achieve this behavior. If you are running Maximus 2.01/wb, then you will have to acquire FB.EXE version 2.00. (This is available from my system as FB200.ZIP.) This version of FB will create a database using the "creation" date of the file. However, it also displays this date to the user on file title/list displays. Thus, while the true date of the archive can be maintained in the "last write" date of the file, TrueDate Users Manual Page 11 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- users will still be somewhat mislead by the date they see in the display list. HOWEVER, if you use Downsort to create your downloadable file lists, the correct dates are used. Downsort marks new files with an asterisk and/or plus sign depending upon age. Downsort uses the "creation" date to do this. However, the dates actually printed in the list is the "last write" date. Thus the actual age of the archive is correctly represented. Therefore, I encourage Maximus Sysops to leave the "last write" date intact, and use the "creation" date to indicate arrival/"newness" of an archive on your system.