Don't like the way many file stamps are changed....

marzsyndrome · Post by **marzsyndrome** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 12:01 pm

...when extracting xx_ files during XP installation. Maybe it's a bug of "expand"?

Curiously it only happens during initial OS installation, and never when you use it normally. I'd much prefer a version of the update pack that had the files compressed already in this case. Indeed, whenever I add any extra files afterwards, I always change the timestamp of the compressed file to whatever the uncompressed one had, to ensure it stays the same.

Am I just nitpicking here?

ricktendo64 · Post by **ricktendo64** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 12:13 pm

Do you mean this?

marzsyndrome · Post by **marzsyndrome** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 12:25 pm

Almost, I meant when you examine the files on your HD after installation has finished. All their date stamps have changed to whatever the time in which you created the compressed version was. I'm rather picky about what should be modified and what shouldn't!

MrNxDmX · Post by **MrNxDmX** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 6:27 pm

i know an option in nero that changes time stamps of files it burns. maybe its just besause of burning software. and i dont think RVMintegrator will modify oem folder. maybe its so because you've copied them on your hdd then burnt...

Post by **5eraph** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 7:45 pm

It's not nero. The timestamps are changed when Ryan compresses the files to reduce the size of the Update Pack.

I don't mind it. In fact, I find it informational. You can see how long a specific file has been used in the Pack.

Post by **RyanVM** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 8:14 pm

I'm going to look into this. The file stamps shouldn't be getting changed.

the_guy · Post by **the_guy** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 8:28 pm

Just curious, but would this be the makecab.exe bug? If so, the only thing to do would have the integrator include the version from IEAK6.

A good thing about the makecab bug is that it is apparently gone in Vista.

the_guy

Siginet · Post by **Siginet** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 10:27 pm

We supposedly are using the fixed makecab. But we'll look into it.

marzsyndrome · Post by **marzsyndrome** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 7:04 am

I don't believe makecab is the problem though. I think it has more to do with expand, or whatever tool XP uses when it's installing itself (presumably during GUI setup). If anyone knows of another version of MS's expand on the web I could try that. But to summarize (again), it doesn't change the file stamps of system files if you're decompressing them manually, *after* XP's been installed (additionally, if you rename xx_ files to .cab and look inside them with WinRAR or whatever appropriate compression tool, you'll see the original date stamp has been maintained inside (that is if you didn't use the 'dodgy' makecab)). Maybe GUI Setup is using a different command parameter or two, but it's only when it's decompressing these major files in the first place that their date stamps suddenly share those of their respective xx_ files.

Sorry for sounding like a broken record lol, but hopefully I've made more sense finally.

marzsyndrome · Post by **marzsyndrome** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 7:30 am

Might as well add that this isn't specifically an update pack problem, but a (no doubt longstanding) XP problem in general. It's all about the timestamps on compressed files - XP is seemingly unable to extract the timestamp info of the file inside the cabbed equivalent during OS installation and so simply gives it the compressed timestamp! So I guess it would've been a slight problem even during the days when Update Packs came with readily-compressed files.