> Some VCS, like git, set the file mtimes to the current time
> when making a new checkout, so they will be lost if you do that.
> The creation times can be retrived using the `--getctime` option.
-> I suppose it might be nice if there were a `--getmtime` that pulled
-> true modification times out of the VCS, but I haven't found it a big
-> deal in practice for the last modification times to be updated to the
-> current time when rebuilding a wiki like this. --[[Joey]]
+> --[[Joey]]
>
> > Thanks for the clarification. I ran some tests of my own to make sure I understand it right, and I'm satisfied
> > that the order of posts in my blog can be retrieved from the VCS using the `--getctime` option, at least if I
> > choose to order my posts by creation time rather than modification time. But I now know that I can't rely on
> > page modification times in ikiwiki as these can be lost permanently.
+>
+> > > Update: It's now renamed to `--gettime`, and pulls both the creation
+> > > and modification times. Also, per [[todo/auto_getctime_on_fresh_build]],
+> > > this is now done automatically the first time ikiwiki builds a
+> > > srcdir. So, no need to worry about this any more! --[[Joey]]
> >
> > I would suggest that there should at least be a `--getmtime` option like you describe, and perhaps that
> > `--getctime` and `--getmtime` be _on by default_. In my opinion the creation times and modification times of
> > Surely it is not the _last changed time_ but the _first seen time_ of each page that is pulled out of the VCS?
> > If the aim is to get the real creation times of items in weblogs, then the last times that the items were
> > changed in the VCS is not going to help. -- [[seanh]]
+>>> Typo, fixed. --[[Joey]]
> > > If you want to preserve the date of a page, the best way to do it is to
> > > use [[ikiwiki/directive/meta]] date="foo". This will survive checkouts,
$EDITOR "$pagename"
>>>>> -- [[Jon]]
+
+> A quick workaround for me to get modification times right is the following
+> little zsh script, which unfortunately only works for git:
+
+>> Elided; no longer needed since --gettime does that, and much faster! --[[Joey]]
+
+> --[[David_Riebenbauer]]