Python 2.5.1 broken os.stat module

[Joe Salmeri]

""Martin v. Löwis"" <martin at v.loewis.de> wrote in message 
news:465fa702$0$2944$9b622d9e at news.freenet.de...
>> I created a file and specifically set the created date, last accessed 
>> date
>> and last write date to
>>
>>     01/02/2003 12:34:56
>
> How did you do that?

I used a "touch" utility to set the dates but let's try it a different way.

Let's use Python 2.5.1 to set the timestamps

---->> set file timestamp
import pywintypes
import win32file
import sys

file_name       = sys.argv[1]
new_timestamp   = pywintypes.Time([2003, 1, 2, 12, 34, 56])

f = win32file.CreateFile(file_name, win32file.GENERIC_WRITE, 0, None, 
win32file.OPEN_EXISTING, 0, 0)
win32file.SetFileTime(f, new_timestamp, new_timestamp, new_timestamp)
f.Close()

Next I created an empty file with notepad.

Then I used the above code to set the 3 timestamps.

Let's confirm that Windows has the timestamps set to what we set them too.

Here are the timestamps as reported by Windows:

dir /tc joe.txt

01/02/2003  12:34 PM                 0 joe.txt

dir /ta joe.txt

01/02/2003  12:34 PM                 0 joe.txt

dir /tw joe.txt

01/02/2003  12:34 PM                 0 joe.txt

Looks like the python code worked to correctly set the timestamps
(Note you can also verify them using properties on the file in Windows 
Explorer)

Here is some python code to print out the timestamps:

import os
import stat
import sys
import time

file_name   = sys.argv[1]

file_stats  = os.stat(file_name)

print 'Creation    Time: %s' % time.strftime('%m/%d/%Y %H:%M:%S', 
time.localtime(file_stats[stat.ST_CTIME]))
print 'Last Access Time: %s' % time.strftime('%m/%d/%Y %H:%M:%S', 
time.localtime(file_stats[stat.ST_ATIME]))
print 'Last Write  Time: %s' % time.strftime('%m/%d/%Y %H:%M:%S', 
time.localtime(file_stats[stat.ST_MTIME]))

Now let's see what Python 2.4.2 says about the file

Creation    Time: 01/02/2003 12:34:56
Last Access Time: 01/02/2003 12:34:56
Last Write  Time: 01/02/2003 12:34:56

Looks like Python 2.4.2 is reporting the timestamps correctly

Now let's see what Python 2.5.1 says

Creation    Time: 01/02/2003 11:34:56
Last Access Time: 01/02/2003 11:34:56
Last Write  Time: 01/02/2003 11:34:56

All times are off by 1 hour!

Let's re-verify that Windows still says the timestamps are 01/02/2003 
12:34:56.

dir /tc joe.txt

01/02/2003  12:34 PM                 0 joe.txt

dir /ta joe.txt

01/02/2003  12:34 PM                 0 joe.txt

dir /tw joe.txt

01/02/2003  12:34 PM                 0 joe.txt

Windows still says the times are what we set them too.

Opening up Windows Explorer also confirms that the times are still 
01/02/2003 12:34:56.

My text editor has a was to display the file names and timestamp info just 
like a dir command

Let's see what it says:

h: joe                            .txt                0   1/02/03  12:34   \

The text editor is reporting the correct timestamps too.

So far everything else I try seems to report the timestamps correctly except 
for Python 2.5.1.

It is difficult for me to believe that EVERYTHING else is wrong and Python 
2.5.1 is correct, especially when you consider the fact that the code in 
Python 2.5.1 that performs this functionality is not the same code that was 
used in previous Python versions.

Normally if something is not working, the biggest suspect is the last thing 
changed.

In my other msg I posted a program that compares the timestamps of a dir 
/tc, dir /ta, and dir /tw for all files against what Python is reporting.

This allows us to easily verify what Windows says the timestamps are versus 
what Python says they are.

Python 2.4.2 ALWAYS got it correct.

Python 2.5.1 gets it wrong as much as 50% of the time.

So unless you are saying that Windows is wrong, Python 2.5.1 has to be wrong 
since it does not compare to what Windows reports.  Since everything else I 
have tried matches what Windows reports that leads me to believe that Python 
2.5.1 has to be wrong.

>> I even found situations where the python timestamp was 1 minute later. 
>> (I
>> know about the 2 second timestamps on FAT, all my filesystems are NTFS). 
>> I
>> just found a situation where the python timestamp was 02:51 PM and the
>> windows timestamp was 02:12 PM.   DST or timezone changes are not going 
>> to
>> make the results be off by 39 minutes?   (My timezone is GMT - 5:00).
>
> Right. If that is reproducable, it is a bug. Please create a zip file
> containing this file, and submit a bug report to sf.net/projects/python.

Please see my other msg,  I ran the program in that msg against the 
Python\lib directory:  I tried it on multiple machines and found the same 
problems occurring.  I already submitted a bug report with the sample code 
that demonstrates the problem.

All Python 2.4.2 timestamps match what Windows reports

The Python 2.5.1 timestamps vary
    Sometimes python is +1 minute
    Sometimes python is -1 hour
    Sometimes python is +59 minutes
    Sometimes python is +42 minutes
    Sometimes python is +37 minutes
    Sometimes python +2 minutes
    Sometimes python +30 minutes
    Sometimes python +3 minutes
    Sometimes python +33 minutes

There is no way a timezone difference could explain those variations.

Bottom line is that Python should be reporting what Windows reports.

Even if it turns out that Windows has a bug and is wrong I still think that 
Python should be reporting the same thing because what Windows reports is 
what is expected.  If Python reports something different (even if it was 
correct) the information is not useful if it differs from what everything 
else is reporting.

I hope I have provided enough information for you to reproduce the bug so 
that a solution can be found.

Thanks for your time investigating this.