>> In struct stat, POSIX only specifies that "st_size" and "st_mode"
>> have meaningful information for symlinks, and that the st_mode value
>> is only meaningful as the argument to the S_ISLNK() macro.

> Does that mean there is no escape from the "all-symlinks-have-same-
> time-rendering-ls -lt-virtually-useless-and-driving-me-nuts"
> syndrome?  Couldn't one at least hope for a tiny little st_mtime or
> something? :-)

ls is welcome to do whatever it wants with the st_mtime field.  POSIX
just doesn't promise that there's useful information there for
symlinks.  One would hope that systems that do in fact maintain mtimes
for symlinks would return it; on systems that don't, of course, you
can't get it no matter how you try.  (ls on the latter type of system
probably shouldn't print any time for symlinks, but that's a
quality-of-implementation issue.)

					der Mouse

			    mouse@collatz.mcrcim.mcgill.edu