Timestamps for some files are off by 8 minutes

[TheEvilHammer]

It seems that I've run into the dreaded "timestamps are off by 8 minutes" which has come up before:

http://forum.filezilla-project.org/view ... =6&t=18067
http://forum.filezilla-project.org/view ... f=6&t=2307

I've read through both threads and I'm not seeing anything that resembles a solution. The only worthwhile answer is this one from boco:

If the FTP client uses the LIST command to get directory listings, the time field is only returned when the files date is not older than 30 days/1 month. If the file's date is older, only the year is returned.

This seems to imply that you should just wait for the affected files to be older than a month and then the problem will magically go away. Is this really the official solution?

[boco]

That one's still alive? I've not encountered that behavior since FZ is using MLSD...

[TheEvilHammer]

I'm seeing the problem with multiple client computers (Windows XP, Windows 7) and multiple FTP clients (WinSCP, Firefox).

[boco]

Right now I'm unable to recreate the offset with any client on my PC. There must be something causing this. Maybe a common program you're using on all your machines, one that other people don't use.

[TheEvilHammer]

As others have noted in the other threads, this doesn't happen all the time and it doesn't happen with all files, so trying to repro it on your end is probably fruitless. I've been using my WinSCP <-> FileZilla Server setup for a while now without any problems. I synced a bunch of files to my FTP server recently and a subset of them are experiencing this timestamp problem. Even if I re-sync and overwrite all the files, the problem is still there.

Is it possible that the problem is timestamp-specific? In other words, specific values for the timestamps cause problems, regardless of everything else?

[boco]

Yes, one such magic date and time is 2006-05-02 08:00 PM. Though you have to change system date, too, to see it (due to the 1 month rule).

It would be very kind to post all magic date time strings you encounter, maybe we find a pattern.

[TheEvilHammer]

Here are the timestamps for one of the files, as reported by Windows Explorer:

Created: Monday, ‎August ‎22, ‎2011, ‏‎10:37:30 PM
Modified: Monday, ‎August ‎22, ‎2011, ‏‎10:36:57 PM
Accessed: Monday, ‎August ‎22, ‎2011, ‏‎10:37:30 PM

When FileZilla server is creating the response to my client's LIST command, it is saying the timestamp of the file is "Aug 22 22:29" (verified with a Wireshark network trace).

[boco]

FTP uses only the Modified time stamp, the other two (actually other three* in modern OS) are not important.

Recreated successfully. FileZilla Server does return an incorrect time value in the LIST response, while returning the correct one in the MLSD response.




*There are now four different timestamps:
-Creation time,
-Modify time,
-Access time, and
-Change time.

[TheEvilHammer]

Whew! I feel less crazy now.

[botg]

@boco: Most modern operating systems are trying to get rid of access times since having to store them all the time causes severe slowdown.

[boco]

That's a myth. Access times are heavily cached and usually only written once every hour. But you are right, they are disabled by default since Vista.

[TheEvilHammer]

Just ran into this again. What's the next step here? Should I file a formal bug report?

[TheEvilHammer]

Also, I've verified that this issue exists in the latest version (0.9.41).

[boco]

http://trac.filezilla-project.org

Please check first is a ticket of that subject already exists.

[TheEvilHammer]

Ticket filed: http://trac.filezilla-project.org/ticket/8142