all files new date after merge

[Davio Ulber]

Hello,

after I merge a branch into the master branch (sourcetree), all files at the destination path (local C:)

get a new date -> date from the merge. Is there a possibility to prevent that behavior? I need the files to keep the date, on wich I changed somthing on them.

[Martin Runge]

Hi @Davio Ulber

This is expected Git behavior rather than something specific to Sourcetree. Git does not store file modification dates. It only tracks content. So whenever Git writes files to your working copy, like during a merge or checkout, your operating system stamps them with the current time. That is why every touched file shows the merge date.

If you need the original dates back, you could look at the community script git-restore-mtime. It walks the history and resets each file's date to the last commit that changed it. You run it once after the merge.

Is this still an open question for you, or did you already find a way around it?

Cheers, Martin