[Samba] Merely Opening Excel Files Increments Last-Modification date on Samba Shares

[Eric Heintzberger]

Thanks for the information. The problems and solutions
you cite *are* related, I think, because I have found
that my problem occurs only on Excel files that the
user does not own -- an important fact I didn't see
before. 

--- RRuegner <robert at ruegner.org> wrote:
> Eric Heintzberger schrieb:
> 
> > Thank you for responding to my post. 
> > 
> > As for your question, my concern is not that (as
> you
> > put it) "the date of last modification [is] the
> date
> > of the file". It is, rather, this:
> > 
> > If today I do "cat file.txt" on a text file whose
> > last-modifiation date is December 23, 2003, I
> would
> > not expect "ls -l file.txt" to display April 17,
> 2004
> > as the last-modification date.
> > 
> > Similarly, if right now I simply open, then close
> an
> > xls file, without saving any changes, I would not
> > expect its last-modification date to change to
> now. 
> > 
> > The last-modification date should not change as a
> > result of just reading the file. There would have
> to
> > be some writing too.    
> > 
> > Are you saying that MS-Excel is designed so that
> > reading an xls file in MS-excel actually writes
> > changes to the file, even if the end-user does not
> > save or auto-save any changes?
> > 
> > Regards, 
> > 
> > --- RRuegner <robert at ruegner.org> wrote:
> > 
> >>Eric Heintzberger schrieb:
> >>
> >>>Hello Everyone!
> >>>
> >>>Perhaps some of you have some advice for dealing
> >>
> >>with
> >>
> >>>this problem? I've done quite a bit of googling
> on
> >>>this one, but I can't find anything useful. 
> >>>
> >>>Ever since I started using Samba as PDC, I have
> >>
> >>had
> >>
> >>>this problem: when users merely open MS-Excel
> >>
> >>files on
> >>
> >>>samba shares, the file's Last-Modification date 
> >>
> >>is
> >>
> >>>incremented to the current time. 
> >>>
> >>>I have seen similar behavior with MS-Word files
> >>
> >>long
> >>
> >>>ago when using WINNT4 as PDC, and it was caused
> by
> >>
> >>a
> >>
> >>>macro-virus, but in this case, it doesn't seem to
> >>
> >>be
> >>
> >>>virus-related. 
> >>>
> >>>If the same Excel file is copied to a user's
> local
> >>
> >>"C"
> >>
> >>>drive, the problem ceases.
> >>>
> >>>The problem of modifying-by-merely-opening began,
> >>
> >>I
> >>
> >>>think, when I  changed the PDC to samba.  
> >>>
> >>>I had this problem using Samba 2.7* on RedHat 7.2
> >>
> >>over
> >>
> >>>a year ago. I'm currently using samba 2.2.8a on
> >>>FreeBSD 4.9 with a similar configuration, and I
> >>
> >>still
> >>
> >>>have the problem. 
> >>>
> >>>Is it possible to stop this problem using
> >>
> >>adjustable
> >>
> >>>configuration parameters in smb.conf? 
> >>>
> >>>Here's my smb.conf, in case it's needed:
> >>>
> >>>---------------------------
> >>>[global]
> >>>netbios name = netbiosname
> >>>workgroup = workgroup
> >>>security = user
> >>>domain logons = yes
> >>>time server = yes
> >>>server string = Samba %v on %L
> >>>log file = /var/log/samba/%m.log
> >>>max log size = 2000
> >>>
> >>>### Security Settings ###
> >>>hosts allow = [omitted for this post] 127.
> >>>hosts deny = ALL
> >>>invalid users = root
> >>>;Unreadable files shouldn't even appear
> >>>;hide unreadable = yes
> >>>;Prevent browsing by default
> >>>browseable = no
> >>>
> >>>### Users and Passwords ###
> >>>[omitted for this post]
> >>>
> >>>### Performance ###
> >>>deadtime = 15
> >>>getwd cache = yes
> >>>lpq cache time = 45
> >>>socket options = IPTOS_LOWDELAY TCP_NODELAY
> >>>oplocks = yes
> >>>level2 oplocks = yes
> >>>#veto oplock files = /*.xls/*.XLS/
> >>>
> >>>### Domain ###
> >>>local master = yes
> >>>os level = 65
> >>>domain master = yes
> >>>preferred master = yes
> >>>domain logons = yes
> >>>logon script = %U.bat
> >>>logon drive = M:
> >>>logon path = \\netbiosname\profiles\%U
> >>>
> >>># Name Resolution
> >>>wins support = yes
> >>>wins proxy = yes
> >>>dns proxy = yes
> >>>
> >>># Case
> >>>preserve case = yes
> >>>short preserve case = yes
> >>>default case = lower
> >>>case sensitive = no
> >>>
> >>>----------------------------------
> >>>
> >>>#Sample  Share Definition:
> >>>
> >>>[clients]
> >>>  comment = Client Directory
> >>>  path = /usr/local/samba/clients
> >>>  browseable = yes
> >>>  force create mode = 0664
> >>>  force directory mode = 0775
> >>>  force group = users
> >>>  invalid users = invlink
> >>>  map archive = no
> >>>  printable = no
> >>>  public = no
> >>>  valid users = @users
> >>>  writable = yes
> >>>
> >>>-------------------------------
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>	
> >>>		
> >>>__________________________________
> >>>Do you Yahoo!?
> >>>Yahoo! Tax Center - File online by April 15th
> >>>http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html
> >>
> >>hi, theres is detailed info in the official howto
> >>about ms-office,
> >>at last i remember this features are by design of
> ms
> >>office, and why 
> >>should not the date of last modification be the
> date
> >>of the file?
> >>Best Regards
> > 
> 
=== message truncated ===



	
		
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