KO | EN

GitLite

Minimalist Open Source Repository Search Engine

gitlite — search

#dsh #dsh-plugin #developer-tools #ai-agent #claude-code #codex #typescript #ai-agents #deepseek-harness #mcp #cli #rust

os_timestamps

★ 19 Open GitHub ↗

Explore how Unix-like OS (Linux, BSD, macOS...) modify MACB timestamps and check against POSIX (non-)compliance

// repository documentation

Was this content helpful?

★ 0 (0 ratings)

# Explore how Unix-like OS modify MACB timestamps

https://github.com/QuoSecGmbH/os_timestamps/

* Profile the Operating System, standard libraries (libc), middleware, applications and commands line utilities
* Test against POSIX compliance
* Tested on Linux (Ubuntu, Arch), OpenBSD, FreeBSD, macOS

# MACB timestamps
* M: Last data **m**odification timestamp
* A: Last data **a**ccess timestamp
* C: Last file status **c**hange timestamp (typically updated by `chmod` or `chown`)
* B: File creation (**b**irth)

# References

- 2022 - A systematic approach to understanding MACB timestamps on Unix-like systems (DFRWS-EU 2022) -  [[paper]](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666281722000075) [[pdf]](https://yaps8.github.io/os_timestamps/DFRWSEU2022/DFRWSEU2022_MACB_Unix_paper.pdf) [[slides]](https://yaps8.github.io/os_timestamps/DFRWSEU2022/DFRWSEU2022_MACB_Unix_slides.pdf) [[video]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0zd7HtluzY) [[transcript]](https://www.forensicfocus.com/webinars/a-systematic-approach-to-understanding-macb-timestamps-on-unixlike-systems/)
- 2020 - OS Profiling: https://yaps8.github.io/blog/01_macb_timestamps_across_POSIX.html
- 2019 - Tests against POSIX Compliance: https://yaps8.github.io/blog/02_Testing_POSIX.html

# Results & Tables

The main result is the following comparative table for timestamp updates provoked by POSIX utilities, standard libraries (`libc`) and kernel system calls.

![Unix MACB](https://yaps8.github.io/os_timestamps/2022-03-03/unix_macb.png)

- [RESULTS.md](RESULTS.md)

# Build

- `mkdir build; cd build/`
- `cmake ../src/`
- `make`

You may need to install the following (tested on Ubuntu 22.04):
- pip packages: pyautogui
- Other packages: python3-dev python3-tk qtbase5-dev

# OS Profiling

`profile_os` profiles common file operations:
- New file/dir
- File read (cat)
- File write (echo AA > file)
- File change (chown, chmod)
- Local File Copy
- Volume file copy
- ...

To have complete results you will need:
- For "Volume Copy" (copy a file to a different file system): the other file system to test, mounted into mnt/
    - On Linux you can create an Ext4 fs with:
        - `dd if=/dev/zero of=profileos.ext4 bs=4M count=10`
        - `mkfs.ext4 -O extra_isize -I 256 profileos.ext4`
    - On OpenBSD you may use /tmp/ as it is typically on a separate partition
- For reliable chown tests ("File Change"...): the GID of a group you can attribute to a file (you shall be able to do `chown :GID file`)
    - On OpenBSD & FreeBSD, GID 0 (wheel) can be used

```
$ ./profile_os -m mnt/ -G 1000
INFO: Directory for tests is: tmp_os_profile_10/
INFO: Volume path is: mnt/tmp_os_profile_10/
File Creation (PROFILE.OS.FILE.NEW):
dir/
  M.C.
newfile
  MACB
File Copy (new) (PROFILE.OS.FILE.COPY.NEW):
src
  .A..
srcdir/
  ....
dst
  MACB
dstdir/
  M.C.
  [...]
```

Symbols you will encounter:
```
M/A/C/B - M/A/C/B was updated to current time
m/a/c/b - M/A/C/B was set to the same m/a/c/b value as the source file/dir
>       - M/A/C/B was set to the same value as the source file/dir (same as m/a/c/b but for the same timestamp)
s       - M/A/C/B was set to the same value as multiple m/a/c/b timestamps of the source file/dir
.       - M/A/C/B was not modified
d       - M/A/C/B seem to have been updated after the command ended (delay - this may hidden with -d option)
0       - M/A/C/B was 0 after command execution
!       - Error (mostly: the file did not exist anymore)
```

Two CSV files are also created:
- os_profile_results.csv - Contains a condensed view of the results, can be used for comparison
- os_profile_flags.csv   - Contains a more detailed view of the results, explaining precisely what happens to each timestamp

The provided results will need some interpretation and a bit of context (mount options, OS configuration...) to be fully understood and turned into tables  ([RESULTS.md](RESULTS.md)).

# Library Profiling (Qt, GIO)
`profile_qt` and `profile_gio` provide similar capabilities to profile functions from Qt and GIO.

They are only compiled (see CMakeLists.txt) and tested on Linux.

# Application Profiling (Text editors)

The python package `pyautogui` is needed, it can be installed in a virtual env as follows:
```
python3 -m venv venv_pyautogui
source venv_pyautogui/bin/activate
pip3 install pyautogui
```

A number of text editors can be profiled with code based on pyautogui, for instance with:

* `python3 profile_gui.py`: run all tests
* `python3 profile_gui.py -t list`: list tests
* `python3 profile_gui.py -t EDITOR.nano`: run only tests for nano
* `python3 profile_gui.py -t EDITOR.nano --sleeptime 0.1 --empty --small`: quick test (short sleeptime, test only with empty and small files)

**Please do not touch the keyboard or mouse while the tests are running.**

Output is given in a file named `editors_profile.txt`:

```
Small File Test
Vim Version: 8.1
vim --clean
VIM ACCESS TEST:  |A| | | 
VIM MODIFY TEST: M|A|C|B|I
VIM SAVE WITHOUT MODIFICATION TEST: M|A|C|B|I
VIM MODIFY BUT DONT SAVE TEST:  |A| | | 
```

Additionnally to `MACB`, `I` indicates that the inode of the watched file changed.

# Command Profiling
`profile_cmd` is an interactive tool to profile shell commands.

You need to manually define which files/dirs you want to watch for change.

The first watched path is considered as the source file/dir (for **>** and **m/a/c/b**), so be careful to define it correctly.

**New File (Linux):**
```
$ ./profile_cmd -w file 'touch file'
file
  MACB
```

**Dir Move (Linux):**
```
$ ./profile_cmd -w dir/ -w dst/ -w dst/dir/ 'mv dir/ dst/'
dir/
  !!!!
dst/
  M.C.
dst/dir/
  >>C>
```
# Test POSIX Compliance
`run_tests` will test OS behavior against POSIX tests. The file `results.csv` will be created with parsable information on tests that were run and the results.

* `./run_tests` by default will run all non-interactive tests
* `./run_tests --dry-run` will not perform tests but can be used to enumerate them
* `./run_tests -t GENERAL.NEW_FILE_REALTIME` will run specific test only (can be used multiple times)

By default details are only shown when a test fails but it can be forced in verbose mode (`-v`). Output when something fails look like the following.

```
./run_tests -t GENERAL.NEW_FILE_REALTIME
INFO: Directory for tests is: tmp_tests_19/
WARNING: check_general_new_file_realtime - M not updated
WARNING: check_general_new_file_realtime - A not updated
WARNING: check_general_new_file_realtime - C not updated
INFO: check_general_new_file_realtime:
INFO: Before: 1590125151s 5644975ns ; After: 1590125151s 5684126ns
INFO: M: 1590125151s 4162603ns
INFO: A: 1590125151s 4162603ns
INFO: C: 1590125151s 4162603ns
INFO: B: 1590125151s 4162603ns
RESULT: No - No(.UNKNOWN) - New file shall have MAC updated (CLOCK_REALTIME) - GENERAL.NEW_FILE_REALTIME - check_general_new_file_realtime
```

It means that:
* Folders and files for this test are in folder with relative path `tmp_tests_19/`
* Test determined that MAC were not updated when it was expected
* Test occurs in function called `check_general_new_file_realtime`
* Timestamp before the action were: 1590125151.5644975s
* Timestamp after the action were: 1590125151.5684126s
* Relevant MAC for comparison are all equal to: 1590125151.4162603s

# Tools
## Get MACB Timestamps

`prototype_file_ts TARGET [MODE] [-i/--print-inode]` will output the target's MACB timestamps.

As it uses the **stat()** (and **statx()** on Linux) system calls, it shall not update any timestamp of the target.

Mode can be:
- 0 (default): uses **stat** to get MAC and gets B by OS-specific method that follows symlinks
- 1: Same as 0 but outputs as csv
- 11: Same as 1 but omits the file name (prints only timestamps and, when requested, inode number)
- 2: same as 0 but with **lstat** and OS-specific method that does not follow symlinks
- 3: Linux only: gets MACB with **statx**, with the AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW flag (do not follow symlinks)
- 4: Linux only: same as 3 but outputs with the format second.nanosecond for easier parsing

Implemented OS-specific methods to read B:
- Linux: use the **statx** system call
- OpenBSD: **struct stat** has a field called **__st_birthtim**
- FreeBSD: **struct stat** has a field called **st_birthtim**

```
$ ./prototype_file_ts file
file: (stat + B)
M: Mon Dec  2 13:59:38 2019 - ns: 766478455
A: Mon Dec  2 13:59:36 2019 - ns: 870434493
C: Mon Dec  2 13:59:42 2019 - ns: 554566399
B: Mon Dec  2 13:42:32 2019 - ns: 126956318
```

os_timestamps

Explore Similar Repositories

Was this content helpful?

Recent Feedback

Download README