Please can you preserve the original file date and timestamps

[quakerid]

Describe the bug

Please can you enable a feature to preserve the original file creation date. When installing a game by using DOSBox-X the original file date/timestamps will be destroyed in some cases.
Is there any way that you can fix this problem, so that the original file date will be preserved when installing a programm by using DOSBox-X.

Steps to reproduce the behaviour

4

Expected behavior

No response

What operating system(s) this bug have occurred on?

Windows 11

What version(s) of DOSBox-X have this bug?

DOSBox-X 2025.02.01

Used configuration

Output log

Additional information

No response

Have you checked that no similar bug report(s) exist?

• I have searched and didn't find any similar bug report.

Code of Conduct & Contributing Guidelines

• I agree to follow the code of conduct and the contributing guidelines.

[quakerid]

Here you can see an example on what I mean.
The files of the game Heretic are datet on 1995 which is the original date.
The files of the game Spear of Destiny are dated on 2025 whis is not the original date of the files.

[quakerid]

Here is also a discussion on the vogonsorg forum:
https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=27960

Like I said: The initial file date shall be preserved. DosBox should not destroy or overwrite the initial date of any file.

Although the problem seems to be fixed in the current version it will apear in some cases that DosBox destroys and overwrite the initial date of the files as you can see in the screenshot of the game Spear of destiny.

[maron2000]

Spear of destiny uses copy command.
And the thread you mentioned has the answer.
Real DOS doesn't do that

Try the same in a booted DOS.

Edit: Sorry, I thought I tried and got the result, but real dos (PC-DOS 7.0) preserved the timestamp.

[maron2000]

Running the installer (runme.bat) didn't change the timestamp on DOSBox-X prompt (not booted DOS).
Is there some procedure different from yours?

[quakerid]

Here is what I exacly did

Started Dosbox-X by clicking Dosbox-X.exe
Mounted the three 3.5 720k Floppy images
Startet the instalation programm by typing install.exe

After the instalation programm has finished, you will see the files with an altered timestamp/file date which is modified from the original/initial date.

Is this being caused by Dosbox-X?

[maron2000]

It seems that the disk images were not original.

I found another set of images with the same installer, and installed it on a genuine PC-DOS.
Timestamps of the files installed were not those of the files in the diskette, but the time and date of install.
Therefore, it is the installer that changes the timestamp, and DOSBox-X accurately emulates the behavior of genuine DOS in this situation.

[maron2000]

Same result on VMWare.
Not a bug of DOSBox-X.

[quakerid]

So you did use a real DOS Operating System to try this? Not an emulator?
If this happens even under real DOS it indeed could be the installer that changes the date.

[maron2000]

Please look at the screenshot carefully.
I used real DOS on DOSBox-X and VMware, and both behaves the same as emulated DOS on DOSBox-X.
I don't think I have to explain that VMware can only run real DOS.

If you really suspect this, try it on a real DOS on a real machine.

[quakerid]

I tried another game Terminal Velocity on 6 Disk Images.
Same Problem. Timestamps were destroyed.
I'm not sure if its caused by Dosbox-X or the instalation programm.

Please can your development team take care of this.

[rderooy]

If files are copied by the installer, of course the timestamps are going to be updated. It is after all the last-modified timestamp.

DOS filesystems only had a single timestamp, other filesystems such as those used for Unix/Linux operating systems typically have multiple (birth, last accessed, last modified, ...)

So there is nothing wrong.

[quakerid]

I Tried the same on Heretic.
In this case the fildate will remain the original/initial/birth date.
Why the filedate does not change in this case?

[maron2000]

Ask H.Yoshizaki, the author of LHA why he decided to keep the timestamp.

[joncampbell123]

If the DOS game takes the effort to change the timestamp after writing the file, then it will reflect that timestamp. Otherwise, the timestamp is set to the current time and date.

[quakerid]

If the DOS game takes the effort to change the timestamp after writing the file, then it will reflect that timestamp. Otherwise, the timestamp is set to the current time and date.

Is this exactly the same behavior like on a real PC under real DOS?
Will MS-DOS in real DOS Environment behave differently from the Dosbox-X Emulator?
If you own a real PC with real DOS you should compare it to each other.

[rderooy]

Is this exactly the same behavior like on a real PC under real DOS? Will MS-DOS in real DOS Environment behave differently from the Dosbox-X Emulator? If you own a real PC with real DOS you should compare it to each other.

Yes, this is how real DOS behaves.