Linux @lemmy.ml mFat @lemdro.id 2 wk. ago

Extracted archive timestamp

There is a very annoying problem with archive extraction on Linux. I always sort my files by "last modified" and want my latest files and folders on top in any file manager. When I download and extract an archive, the extracted folder is placed toward the middle or bottom of the list apparently because the original timestamps of files are retained. If I'm not mistaken I didn't have this issue on my MacBook and the extracted archives would appear on the top of the list.

Workaround: In Ark if I choose extract to subfolder and type a name for the new folder, it is treated as recently modified and is placed at the top. But I don't want to enter a name every time.

Shouldn't an extracted folder be treated as recently modified??

Any ideas?

10 comments

When you extract file and create a new folder/directory, then off course it is treated as recently modified, because you just created it. This is much different than just extracting a directory from archive as it is to preserve its original attributes.

I just tested and observed following:

Open archive file by double clicking in the default application Ark (with GUI). Extract a sub directory from the archive by dragging it out into my filemanager Dolphin. The original last modified date is preserved.

On the contrary, I right mouse click the archive in my filemanager Dolphin and use the Extract > Extract here menu entry. This will extract the files and the sub directories have new last modified dates, but not the files. This does not need any manual folder creation by you.

I assume you want to solve this by only using the GUI. Because using commandline in the terminal these stuff could be solved. With a script this can be even automated. On the other hand, maybe you (or someone else) could create a script with the exact behavior you wish and then you can just right mouse click on the archive, and choose "open with ... the_special_script", which also updates the folder with newest last modified date in example.
- On the contrary, I right mouse click the archive in my filemanager Dolphin and use the Extract > Extract here menu entry. This will extract the files and the sub directories have new last modified dates, but not the files. This does not need any manual folder creation by you.
  
  Are you sure? I just tried this and the extracted folder is not on top.
  
  I removed my other reply, as it is a bit complicated and not straight forward. I thought a little bit about this how to communicate all of this with you, so it is easy to understand. Problem is, this is not easy. Without confusing you again, I want to say it even depends on the file format. In the one tested .7z file the date was preserved for a subfolder inside a folder from the archive. It was not the same for a .tar.gz. Maybe it depends on how the dates were saved in the archive too.
  
  And then it's really confusing thing in the graphical interface of Ark is, when you double click the file and it opens the window. When you extract a subfolder with dragging it out /dir/subdir/ then subdir has new date. But if you extract /dir directly (which includes all subdirs), then subdir has old date, but /dir has new date.
  
  I tested here and there stuff and my conclusion is, its a mess (at least with Ark, I did not test other tools for this, because you are using Ark). As someone else said, you can use touch command to change dates to current date. This could be automated with extraction of archive and using touch command, but this gets involving, especially if you want to have it as a command in the mouse popup menu of your filemanager.
  
  Maybe this program does not a reliable job, as just tested and came up with these results. In short yes, what I described above is correct. Retested it again. I tried to write my reply as less confusing as possible, but it can't be less if the programs behavior is confusing.
  
  Ok I observe some inconsistent behavior when using the GUI. Let me explain with an example archive.tar.gz of mine. It has this file structure (as an example):
  
  archive.tar.gz:
  
  dist/ img/ image.jpg file.txt file2.txt
  
  If I open this archive by double clicking the file the Ark Gui opens up. Now when I click on main folder dist/ and drag it out into my Dolphin manager, then the entire file structure and folders under it are also extracted. The main dist/ folder has the modified and all other dates set to now.
  
  But the folder under it /dist/img/ has its original old unchainged dates.
  
  Second test:
  
  Now if I intstead grab img/ from the Ark Gui directly and drag it out (without the upper dist/ folder), then img/ itself has its dates changed.
  
  So what I see is, that the dates are changed only for the folder I am grabbing. Which is super confusing.
  
  I tested the Extract > Extract here method again and doing so will change the dates to now for dist/ and all subfolders dist/img/ too. Which differs from the behavior when dragging folders out from the GUI instead.
  
  Now here comes another kicker! I just tested this with another archive type .7z and indeed, using Extract > Extract here will not change the dates for subfolders in the archive. But it will change the date for the top most folder.
Most archiver programs will set the modified time of a file to the modified time recorded in the archive (if present). Many archive formats support recording modification times because they were intended for backups and aim to perfectly record the original files including all data and metadata.

I also agree that this is not what I want when using GUI modification programs (in my case file-roller) but the exact options available will depend on which program you use.
This is probably configurable in the program you're using.
- It's not. I couldn't find any options in File Roller or Ark.
  
  You'll have to use a different program, then. With tar, it's the -m option.
Change the file's timestamp.
- The extractor probably takes the timestamps from inside the archive
  
  Yes, but you can change it to whatever you like after extraction.

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