I've searched everywhere for a possible answer to my problem but haven't found anything.

If I open a file to read (ie. cat somefile.txt, or vi somefile.txt), then run "ls -u" from the prompt, the fact the file's been accessed isn't reflected in the return from the command.

I have no idea what the problem is. I've tried getting an updated 'reading' via the "ls -u" command on a variety of files but always the same. The access timestamp isn't being updated!!

In konqueror it's the same. I can access a file but the file details in konqueror don't show it.

If anyone might help me I'd be really grateful. I'm a bit of a beginner and suspect it may be something simple.

I run a mandrake 10.0 official box, bash version 2.05b.0(1)-release.

A bit of an odd one - what file-system(s) are you
using ... I have no real idea of what may be happening.


Cheers,
Tink

its common, look at /etc/fstab

the option "noatime" disables updating the access time, this can improve speed, so its not uncommon to see it.

Thanks very much! I've changed the relevant entries in fstab to defaults and can now see access times. I'll just have to see whether the system is much slower for the change. Thanks again!

its not that noticeable, if you ran a database or whatnot, where you are almost constantly accessing the hard drive, then you might see the hit, esp if a lot of tasks are using the drive at once. Not very noticeable a close to modern desktop computer.