mailbox.mbox.add() sets access time as well as modification time

[tinnews at isbd.co.uk]

Grant Edwards <invalid at invalid> wrote:
> On 2009-04-24, Grant Edwards <invalid at invalid> wrote:
> 
> > Anybody writing to an mbox mailbox has to follow the rules if
> > they expect to interoperate with other mail applications.  If
> > mailbox.mbox.add() doesn't preserve the atime when writing to
> > an mbox, then mailbox.mbox.add is broken.
> 
> I should qualify that: since the documentation for add()
> doesn't specify whether or not it's supposed to add a "new"
> message or an "old" message, one could argue that either
> behavior is correct.
> 
> However, since the maildir add() method adds a "new" message,
> one would reasonably expect that the mbox add() method do the
> same.  Or, I suppose one might expect the converse: since mbox
> add() creates an "old" message, then maildir add() should do
> the same.
> 
> I have my filesystems mouted with the "noatime" option and use
> maildir...
> 
Whatever, if mailbox.mbox.add() doesn't preserve the atime when adding
messages to an mbox then it's close to useless.

I suppose I could do the following:-

    lock the mbox
    get the atime
    add the new message with mailbox.mbox.add()
    restore the atime
    unlock the mbox

All I need to do now is find out how to get and set atime with python.

-- 
Chris Green