Option for .OBJ file date to match source file date?

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

David F. - 02 Mar 2007 23:35 GMT

Hi,

Is there an option in VS to set it so that builds use the source file
date/time as the (modified) date/time of the.OBJ file?

Why that is important, because say I do a build and forgot to check for any
source control changes, so I get latest version of items from source control
(which is setup to use the mod date/time as the date/time for the local
copy) and the items were updated a couple days ago. Now if I do a build, it
doesn't see that the .obj files were built with an older version and I have
to remember to do a rebuild all (and wait 30+min for it to finish). If it
had used the date/time of the files it would see that the source is newer
than the .obj and the build would work without need for a rebuild.

TIA!!

Reply to this Message

Steven Cheng[MSFT] - 05 Mar 2007 11:00 GMT

Hello David,

Regarding on the VS IDE build object file version issue, what's the type of
your project and are you using the Visual studio 2005? Regarding on the obj
files(or some intermediate build result file), the VS IDE will normally
leave the certain intermediate output unbuilt if there is no modification
in source. So I think it is likely that the IDE totally ignores those
output file's version since they won't even access them at the build time.

Sincerely,

Steven Cheng

Microsoft MSDN Online Support Lead

==================================================

Get notification to my posts through email? Please refer to
http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/managednewsgroups/default.aspx#notif
ications.

Note: The MSDN Managed Newsgroup support offering is for non-urgent issues
where an initial response from the community or a Microsoft Support
Engineer within 1 business day is acceptable. Please note that each follow
up response may take approximately 2 business days as the support
professional working with you may need further investigation to reach the
most efficient resolution. The offering is not appropriate for situations
that require urgent, real-time or phone-based interactions or complex
project analysis and dump analysis issues. Issues of this nature are best
handled working with a dedicated Microsoft Support Engineer by contacting
Microsoft Customer Support Services (CSS) at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/support/default.aspx.

==================================================

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Reply to this Message

David F. - 07 Mar 2007 07:34 GMT

VS2005, C/C++.
I would think it looks at the date/time of the .obj file to see if it's
older than the .c/.cpp file and build it if so (which is where making the
.obj match the source file option would be beneficial). The .c file may be
dated 5 days ago, I build today where a header was updated, .obj file gets
today's date. I download changed .c file from source control dated 2 days
ago, I build but it doesn't see the change (presumably because .obj is
newer).

> Hello David,
>
[quoted text clipped - 35 lines]
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
> rights.

Reply to this Message

Steven Cheng[MSFT] - 08 Mar 2007 12:18 GMT

Thanks for your reply David,

I have discussed this with some other engineers. And based on our analysis,
the visual studio's behavior is as expected, and there should have an
setting in the source control tool to control the check in behavior of a
certain module in current project.

Are you using VSS or any other source control tool? If VSS, this issue is
most likely caused by your VSS client setting date/time on local files as
¡°Check In¡± or ¡°Modification¡±. Please change it to Current via the
following:

Open Visual SourceSafe;

select Tools-->click Options-->switch to the "Local Files" tab

set the value of "Set date/time on local files" as Current.

After that, retrieve the files again then you can build your application.

If your source control is not VSS, you may check if it has the similar
functions; if it has not, you may need to manually modify the obj file date
to an older date than your source files. Some third party software may help
you change the date.

Sincerely,

Steven Cheng

Microsoft MSDN Online Support Lead

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Reply to this Message

David F. - 08 Mar 2007 21:12 GMT

The source control I use has that option, but I want the source file to be
download as the date/time it changed and not the date I'm downloading it so
I'm simply looking for the option in VS2005 that will give an "option" of
building the .obj file using the date/time of the source files. That would
give me the flexibility to do it the way I think it should work (and the way
other compilers work) and having it an option would allow others to continue
doing it as it does now by default.

> Thanks for your reply David,
>
[quoted text clipped - 32 lines]
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
> rights.

Reply to this Message

Steven Cheng[MSFT] - 12 Mar 2007 13:24 GMT

Thanks for your reply David,

For the Visual Studio's behavior, it is building output as expected.
regardless of whether Visual studio setting, have you tried setting the
source control's option as I mentioned in the last reply to see whether the
changed behavior(output) is what you expect? So far, based on some further
discussing with other engineers , they think this issue is more likely to
get overcome through the source control tool's setting, otherwise, you may
need to manually change the obj file's version.

Sincerely,

Steven Cheng

Microsoft MSDN Online Support Lead

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Reply to this Message

David F. - 20 Apr 2007 18:20 GMT

The difference is, I pull from source control to a local drive where the VS
project uses those local files and doesn't look in source control itself.

> Thanks for your reply David,
>
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
> rights.

Reply to this Message

Rate this thread:

Option for .OBJ file date to match source file date?

Free Magazines