CODEWITHSUNDEEP
rubygit
cboettig
cboettig

Reputation: 12707

Get correct file modification time in a git repository (in ruby)

In a git repository in which I switch back and forth between branches, file modification times as shown by mtime in ruby (or the operating-system based measure of the modification time, e.g. through ls -l) show the time I last changed branches instead of the actual time the file was modified.

I understand Git stores file modification time for all files, but how do I get the actual modification date displayed, e.g. from a ruby call?

e.g. I see I can get this from the command line:

git log -1 --format="%ad" -- path/to/file

but not sure what the best Ruby way to do this is.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 396

Answers (1)

Steinar
Steinar

Reputation: 5950

I believe this is not possible; i.e. that git stores only the commit time, not the modification time. However, you might want to check out metastore, which is an addition to git that stores this metadata in a separate file.

However, since the commit time is sufficient for your purposes, you can run the command directly from ruby; something like:

%x(git log -1 --format='%ci' path/to/file)

Or you can use one of the ruby git libraries. I have never used these libraries myself, so I can't really vouch for any of them.

EDIT: Added the part about commit time, since that was sufficient for OP's purposes.

Upvotes: 2

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