Defect in XCU pax

[yyyyy@xxxxxxxxxx]

        Defect report from : Mark Brown , IBM

(Please direct followup comments direct to yyyyyyyyyyyyyy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)

@ page 712 line 27484 section pax objection {IBM-03190301}

Problem:

Defect code :  1. Error

There is a contradiction in the definition of the ctime keyword for
pax's extended header:

Definition of ctime extended header keyword:
           The file creation for the following file(s), equivalent to 
the value of the st_ctime member of the stat structure for a file, as 
described by the stat() function.  The creation time shall be restored 
if the process has the appropriate privilege to do so.

The trouble is that the st_ctime member of the stat structure does not 
refer to a file creation time.    No field in the standard stat 
structure from <sys/stat.h> includes a file creation time.

Given the definition of st_ctime in <sys/stat.h> as the time of the last 
status change and the lack of a direct mechanism to set the st_ctime 
field via the utime() interface, it seems like an error in the pax 
definition to allow a ctime keyword.

In any case, there is at least an error in the description of the ctime 
keyword, since st_ctime does not indicate a file creation time.


Action:

Best Answer: remove the ctime keyword.
Second best: redefine to "file status" time and give a hint on how to set it.