fix: prevent readFile from updating ctime when only accessing files#1179
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fix: prevent readFile from updating ctime when only accessing files#1179
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Co-authored-by: streamich <9773803+streamich@users.noreply.github.com>
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[WIP] readFile changes ctime
fix: prevent readFile from updating ctime when only accessing files
Sep 9, 2025
streamich
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Sep 9, 2025
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🎉 This PR is included in version 4.38.3 🎉 The release is available on: Your semantic-release bot 📦🚀 |
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This PR fixes an issue where
readFileandreadFileSyncincorrectly updated bothatime(access time) andctime(change time) when reading files. According to POSIX standards and real Node.js behavior, reading a file should only updateatime, notctime.Problem
The issue occurred because:
atimesetter inNode.tsautomatically updatedctimewheneveratimewas setgetBuffer()calledsetBuffer()when initializing empty buffers, which triggeredtouch()and updated bothmtimeandctimeThis caused memfs to behave differently from the native Node.js
fsmodule:Solution
Core fixes:
ctimeupdate from theatimesetter insrc/core/Node.tsgetBuffer()to directly initialize empty buffers without callingsetBuffer()(which was triggering unnecessarytouch()calls)Test updates:
readFile/readFileSyncctime behaviorResult
readFileandreadFileSyncnow correctly update onlyatimewhen reading filesctimeis only updated for actual metadata/content changes (chmod, chown, write operations, etc.)The changes are minimal and surgical, affecting only the specific timestamp update logic without changing any other filesystem behavior.
Fixes #1177.
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