Some thoughts:

- if you want to force a file's modify date to be changed, you could use
   the Posix shell's touch command.  This can update the access or
   modify timestamps.  It will also update the state-change timestamp
   at the same time.  MPEX also has an undocumented %TOUCH
   command with ;ALTER and ;MODIFY keywords.

- you might consider JUST updating the state-change timestamp,
   instead of the modify timestamp.  State-change timestamps get
   updated when you :ALTFILE a file's owner or creator, and also
   (I think) when the file's security is updated.  However, you'd need to
   verify that your backup utility is able to select files on the basis of the
   state-change timestamp.  I know that ORBiT's Backup+ product can
   do this, and I assume that other vendors products do likewise.

- Updating just the state-change timestamp is a bit tricky.  There are
   probably many ways of accomplishing this, but you could try:
     :ALTFILE <file>; GROUPID=<account>
   although it's important to be sure that you alter the GROUPID to its
   current value.

   Note: MPEX's %ALTFILE command does not seem to update the
   state-change timestamp correctly, so do the ALTFILE outside MPEX.

- Displaying the state-change timestamp is also tricky.  MPEX supports
      %LISTF <fileset>, DATES
   You can extract the field using the CI's FINFO () function, but you can't
   display it directly using :LISTF[ILE].  You can also display the state-
   change timestamp using the Posix shell's "ls -c" command.

Hope this helps,

Paul Taffel
ORBiT Software



  At 9/25/2001 09:06 AM, [log in to unmask] wrote:
>X-no-Archive:yes
>Bob wrote:
> > I need to force selected file sets to be stored on partial
> > backups regardless of whether or not they have been modified since the
>last
> > full backup date.  Any ideas?
>
>How about a store list, preferably kept in an indirect file? If these are
>known files or file sets, then either explicit lists of filenames, or
>appropriately wildcarded arguments, ought to get you exactly the files you
>need.
>
>One important caveat is, that if you go with explicit filesets, and someone
>adds a new file to this application, that file will not get picked up.
>Whereas, if you go with wildcards, and someone adds a file that fits the
>wildcard, but this is not a file you want backed up, you get it anyway. So,
>this requires some attention. It's not set it and forget it. But I cannot
>imagine a solution that could be guaranteed to be bullet-proof.
>
>My own bias is that using MPEX to change the modified date loses some
>important information, when the file was actually modified. Sure, you would
>have the files on backup tape, but you wouldn't know for sure which copy of
>the file was the same as or different from another. If one tape, or several
>tapes in a row, proved bad, you could never be sure that the copy you
>recovered from a good tape was a good copy.
>
>Greg Stigers
>http://www.cgiusa.com
>
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