RE: File creation date, version creation date, and getlastmodifie d

I am an implementer, not a developer, but I do have an opinion on this one.

For process workflow applications, it is very important to know when the
resource is last changed.  I care less about property changes, although that
event is key for backup software.  I would like to see both tracked.

As far as versioning is concerned, it will often be important to know both
when Check-out occurred and when Check-in occurred, however, getlastmodified
should only reflect Check-in.  This is because the resource has not been
modified, as far as DAV is concerned, until that Check-in has occurred.  To
keep this consistent with the three properties you listed, getlasttouched
would reflect the Check-out event because the file lock was set, while
getlastmodified would not.  On Checked-in both would be updated.

Matt Harris

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lisa Dusseault [mailto:lisa@xythos.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2001 2:25 PM
> To: DeltaV; w3c-dist-auth@w3.org
> Subject: File creation date, version creation date, and 
> getlastmodified
> 
> 
> 
> WebDAV people:  RFC2518 leaves it carefully open whether 
> 'getlastmodified'
> changes when properties of the resource change.  It seems 
> useful either
> way -- users might want to get the last time the content was 
> changed, or
> they might want to see the last time the file was touched at 
> all.  Is there
> some precedent?  Really, one might best be served by a new timestamp
> property, so the suite of timestamp-like properties would be
>  - creationdate
>  - time the content was last modified (etag changes, but etag doesn't
> provide a timestamp)
>  - time the file was last touched
> 
> Which one of the last two is most commonly handled by getlastmodified?
> Implementors speak up?
> 
> DeltaV people: What does it mean to get the time file content was last
> "modified", if the file is versioned?  I don't see that the 
> behaviour of
> getlastmodified is specified for a Version-Controlled 
> Resource, can this be
> a recommendation in the spec to promote consistency?  For one 
> thing, should
> 'getlastmodified' on the VCR change when it is checked out, 
> or when it is
> checked in, or both?
> 
> lisa
>