How VSS Uses the Date/Time Stamp

See Also

When you get or check out a file from VSS into your working folder, VSS sets a modification date that your operating system then tracks for each file.

VSS uses the following rules to determine the date/time it gives your file:

• If you already have a local copy of the file and it's identical to the file you are retrieving, VSS does nothing the file's time stamp remains unchanged.
  
  
• If VSS does retrieve the file (you don't already have it or your copy is not up-to-date), it gives the file the current date/time, at the time of the retrieval.

Why VSS Works This Way

The modification date/time is used by many compilers and make systems as a signal of whether a file has changed and therefore has to be recompiled. VSS's treatment of date/time is designed to optimize this process, ensuring that you compile only when you need to.

Changing the Date/Time Stamp

The behavior described above is VSS's default behavior. If your needs are different, you can change the behavior with the options on the Local Files tab of the Options dialog box on the Tools menu or by using the Advanced options on certain dialog boxes like the Get dialog box.

If your computer is out of sync with another computer, unpredictable results may occur.  For instance, you may check in a file after someone else, but VSS may think your checkin happened first, because your system clock was off.  The best solution for this problem is to synchronize your local date/time with the network on a regular basis.  This will ensure that all users are in sync.  With NT this can be done with a Domain Time Source Server.  Please check the http://www.novell.com site for information on time synching with Novell NetWare servers.