GNU bug report logs - #25407
ls documentation should reflect file system atime setting

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From: help-debbugs <at> gnu.org (GNU bug Tracking System)
To: Scott Deerwester <scott.deerwester <at> gmail.com>
Subject: bug#25407: closed (Re: bug#25407: ls documentation should reflect
 file system atime setting)
Date: Mon, 09 Jan 2017 23:19:02 +0000

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Your bug report

#25407: ls documentation should reflect file system atime setting

which was filed against the coreutils package, has been closed.

The explanation is attached below, along with your original report.
If you require more details, please reply to 25407 <at> debbugs.gnu.org.

-- 
25407: http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=25407
GNU Bug Tracking System
Contact help-debbugs <at> gnu.org with problems

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From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: Scott Deerwester <scott.deerwester <at> gmail.com>, 25407-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#25407: ls documentation should reflect file system atime
 setting
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2017 15:18:32 -0800

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On 01/09/2017 10:32 AM, Scott Deerwester wrote:
> This behavior should be
> prominently documented in the man page for ls under the -u option.

Thanks for mentioning the issue. Although it's worth documenting I'm not
sure it belongs in the ls man page, which is supposed to be quite terse.
Instead, I documented it in the coreutils manual (which is the primary
documentation for 'ls' anyway) by installing the attached. The first
patch is a minor cleanup, the second the real doc change.

[0001-maint-standardize-on-timestamp-as-per-POSIX.patch (application/x-patch, attachment)]

[0002-doc-cover-file-timestamps-better.patch (application/x-patch, attachment)]

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From: Scott Deerwester <scott.deerwester <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: ls documentation should reflect file system atime setting
Date: Mon, 09 Jan 2017 18:32:18 +0000

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The -u option to ls is documented as sorting by and printing the access
time of a file instead of the modification time. This has been the
(correct) behavior for decades. In modern distributions, however, file
systems are routinely mounted with either relatime or noatime replacing
atime, which causes the -u option to fail silently and use either the
modification time (if the file system is mounted with noatime), or an
arbitrary access time (if mounted with relatime). This behavior should be
prominently documented in the man page for ls under the -u option.

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