[Samba] Merely Opening Excel Files Increments Last-Modification

[Eric Heintzberger]

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



	
		
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