
noatime (no atime): This option fully disables the access timestamps for files and directories from updating. It has little merit on a desktop or laptop computer. There’s an overhead attached with this approach, but some servers can benefit from this scheme. strictatime (strict atime): This option updates the access timestamp of files every time they’re accessed. The following are some of the most common options: You can also set options to dictate the scheme they should use to update the access timestamp. These are stored in the /etc/fstab file, which is read and processed at boot time. When a file system is mounted, there are options you can use to specify how that file system should operate or be treated. RELATED: How to Use the chmod Command on Linux How the File System Updates Timestamps However, the metadata about the file was changed. This is because the file itself wasn’t changed-it was neither accessed nor modified. The changed timestamp was the only one that updated. It also ensures the month is in the correct language. The location and time zone the computer viewing the file is in guides the conversion of the number of seconds to a date and time. This makes it easier for humans to understand. When Linux needs to display a timestamp, it translates the number of seconds into a date and time. Leap seconds are ignored in Linux timestamps, so they aren’t analogous to real time. This number is the number of seconds since the Unix epoch, which was midnight (00:00:00) on January 1, 1970, in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Linux timestamps hold a number rather than a date and time. Sometimes, this timestamp is populated, but you can’t depend on the values in it.
The standard ext4 Linux file system also allocates space for a file-creation timestamp in its internal file system structures, but this hasn’t been implemented yet. File permission changes, for example, will update the changed timestamp. Rather, it’s the time at which the metadata related to the file was changed. “Modified” means something inside the file was amended or deleted, or new data was added.Ĭhanged timestamps aren’t referring to changes made to the contents of a file.
A program or process either edited or manipulated the file. A modified timestamp signifies the last time the contents of a file were modified.