File birthtime extension for Ruby¶ ↑

This module extends core Ruby classes File and File::Stat with methods to query file birthtime (creation time).

For now, only systems with field st_birthtime in struct stat (BSDs with UFS2 support).

• rubygem >= 1.2

• working C compiler

If installing to $HOME

export RB_USER_INSTALL=true

gem install --source http://gems.github.com mwisnicki-ruby-file-birthtime

git clone git://github.com/mwisnicki/ruby-file-birthtime.git
cd ruby-file-birthtime
gem build ruby-file-birthtime.gemspec
gem install file-birthtime-*.gem

require 'file_btime' # => true
File.btime('.') # => Tue Jun 16 15:07:21 0200 2009
File.new('.').btime # => Tue Jun 16 15:07:21 0200 2009
File.stat('.').btime # => Tue Jun 16 15:07:21 0200 2009

Returns nil if particular filesystem does not support birthtimes (st_birthtime<0).

1. Add necessary checks to extconf.rb

2. Port to other platforms - at least Win32, MacOSX, maybe Solaris (with ZFS).