Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!bu.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!srhqla!unigold!hermix!ucla-an!randvax!segue!jim
From: jim@segue.segue.com (Jim Balter)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.aix
Subject: Re: behavior of file(1) in AIX PS/2 v1.1
Message-ID: <3923@segue.segue.com>
Date: 26 Sep 90 06:08:25 GMT
References: <1990Sep22.230113.14094@athena.mit.edu> <4085@auspex.auspex.com> <1990Sep24.190145.20519@athena.mit.edu>
Reply-To: jim@segue.segue.com (Jim Balter)
Organization: Segue Software, Inc. - Santa Monica, CA. +1-213-453-2161
Lines: 10

In article <1990Sep24.190145.20519@athena.mit.edu> vlcek@athena.mit.edu (Jim C Vlcek) writes:
>I know I'm betraying my ignorance here, but I'll ask anyway:  what do
>people find the "change" time useful for?

Backup programs want to know if the inode changed so that they can back up
changes in such things as file ownership, modes, and mod or access times.

In case it isn't clear to anyone, mtime is affected by changes in the data
of the file, ctime is affected by changes in the file's inode (including
a change to atime or mtime).