Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!linus!mbunix!jcmorris
From: jcmorris@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Joseph C. Morris)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: archive bit
Keywords: say what?
Message-ID: <37077@linus.UUCP>
Date: 26 Jul 88 15:20:53 GMT
References: <4873@killer.DALLAS.TX.US> <699@clsib21.UUCP> <194@pigs.UUCP>
Sender: news@linus.UUCP
Reply-To: jcmorris@mbunix (Morris)
Distribution: na
Organization: The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA.
Lines: 15

In article <194@pigs.UUCP> haugj@pigs.UUCP (Joe Bob Willie) writes:
>
>is it safe to assume that mess-dos clears the [archive] bit when it 
>writes to the file?
>
No, it _sets_ the bit.  The "archive" bit logic is:

   off  -  the file has been backed up by the BACKUP program

   on   -  the file has been opened for output since the last time
           it was backed up by BACKUP

Perhaps the bit should be identified as "archive needed".

Joe