Every once in awhile I come across files when troubleshooting that all have the either the same date or are within a week of each other, and this date has remained the same throughout 6 or 7 clean installs of the operating system over the last year (was dealing with hardware issues that masqueraded as software issues I believe). A new clean install most recently, that I did for kicks on a new SSD, installing from the snow leopard disc that shipped with OSX and upgrading back to Maverick has the same files, and I believe that a new install of Maverick from USB a few months ago contained them as well In /etc/ these files appear to be: apache2, csh.cshrc, csh.login, csh.logout, cups, dnsextd.conf, emond.d,find.codes, hosts.equiv, kern_loader.conf, mach_init.d, mach_init_per_login_session.d, mach_init_per_user.d, manpaths.d, notify.conf, paths.d, pf.anchors, postfix, rmtab, security, snmp, and xtab. For curiosities sake, are these files that installed from firmware and the date I see was basically when the Mac was first launched? How does time stamping work, and how does a mac with a brand new hard drive and installation with no files moved over seem to retain this date again and again?
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Timestamping in OSX and persistent Files in Clean Installs
- Thread starter Motorik
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Those files that you mention in your post are mostly under-the-hood files - part of the unix underpinnings of your OS X system.
The file dates for most of THOSE files will be within the same date range as the origin of the system - although I don't think there's much that you can deduce when a particular file has a newer date (even today) that has simply been updated as the system gets updated, so you will expect to see a variety of dates, and no way to predict which files will be on which dates. There will also be some files where the date will never change within the same system.
Nothing to do with YOUR hardware, as the only part of your hardware that would decide about file dates (stamps) would be the system clock.
I know that may not satisfy your curiosity, but the dates are based on the software, updated as the software is updated, and may be affected by changes to the hardware. The dates will be connected with the source of the original install, and also the date that you first used your software after the system was first installed.
Do you have a more specific question, or concern about your own system?
The file dates for most of THOSE files will be within the same date range as the origin of the system - although I don't think there's much that you can deduce when a particular file has a newer date (even today) that has simply been updated as the system gets updated, so you will expect to see a variety of dates, and no way to predict which files will be on which dates. There will also be some files where the date will never change within the same system.
Nothing to do with YOUR hardware, as the only part of your hardware that would decide about file dates (stamps) would be the system clock.
I know that may not satisfy your curiosity, but the dates are based on the software, updated as the software is updated, and may be affected by changes to the hardware. The dates will be connected with the source of the original install, and also the date that you first used your software after the system was first installed.
Do you have a more specific question, or concern about your own system?