Directories timestamps are not preserved on copy/move when they already exist

[birdie-github]

Far Manager version

3.0.5888.0

OS version

10

Here's a simple scenario.

Say you're copying/moving a directory tree to a new location where some directories already exist.

In this case the "Preserve All Timestamps" option will not work for the already existing directories at the destination whose timestamps must be overwritten with the timestamps of the directories you're moving/copying.

     \file1     \file4
    a\file2 -> a\file5
     \file3     \file6

(source)    -> destination

The source directory A timestamps: TIME_LWRITE TIME_CREATION TIME_LACCESS TIME_CHANGE
After copying or moving the destination A directory timestamps will become NOW NOW NOW NOW and they must become TIME_LWRITE TIME_CREATION TIME_LACCESS TIME_CHANGE.

Please fix.

[alabuzhev]

Why do you think it's a bug? If such a directory is already there then it's not "copied" and there's nothing to preserve.

[birdie-github]

Why do you think it's a bug? If such directory it's already there then it's not "copied" and there's nothing to preserve.

Other utilities, including cp, tar, rar, 7-zip and Midnight Commander follow the behavior which I am looking for.

[birdie-github]

Argument N2: when existing files are overwritten when copying/moving them, their timestamps are updated to match to the source. It's hard to understand why directories are exempt from it.

[opty77]

I second this, with an option to choose which timestamps to preserve because I usually keep just TIME_LWRITE.

BTW, Total Commander 11.56 unfortunately seems to not preserve either and Synchronize Dirs... won't help when no files changed.

[birdie-github]

@alabuzhev

Would this patch work?

far_preserve_timestamps_existing_dirs.patch

[alabuzhev]

Would this patch work?

Looks reasonable, feel free to create a PR.