Optionally preserve modified time of exported files

Add a new argument --preserve-mtime to keep the original modified time
attribute of notes being exported, instead of setting them to the
current time.

Cargo.lock

@@ -17,6 +17,12 @@ version = "1.3.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "0c4b4d0bd25bd0b74681c0ad21497610ce1b7c91b1022cd21c80c6fbdd9476b0"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "bitflags"
+version = "1.3.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "bef38d45163c2f1dde094a7dfd33ccf595c92905c8f8f4fdc18d06fb1037718a"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "bitflags"
 version = "2.6.0"
@@ -120,6 +126,18 @@ version = "2.1.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "9fc0510504f03c51ada170672ac806f1f105a88aa97a5281117e1ddc3368e51a"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "filetime"
+version = "0.2.23"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "1ee447700ac8aa0b2f2bd7bc4462ad686ba06baa6727ac149a2d6277f0d240fd"
+dependencies = [
+ "cfg-if",
+ "libc",
+ "redox_syscall",
+ "windows-sys",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "futures"
 version = "0.3.30"
@@ -358,6 +376,7 @@ name = "obsidian-export"
 version = "23.12.0"
 dependencies = [
  "eyre",
+ "filetime",
  "gumdrop",
  "ignore",
  "matter",
@@ -441,7 +460,7 @@ version = "0.9.6"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "57206b407293d2bcd3af849ce869d52068623f19e1b5ff8e8778e3309439682b"
 dependencies = [
- "bitflags",
+ "bitflags 2.6.0",
  "getopts",
  "memchr",
  "unicase",
@@ -485,6 +504,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "crossbeam-utils",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "redox_syscall"
+version = "0.4.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "4722d768eff46b75989dd134e5c353f0d6296e5aaa3132e776cbdb56be7731aa"
+dependencies = [
+ "bitflags 1.3.2",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "regex"
 version = "1.10.6"
@@ -565,7 +593,7 @@ version = "0.38.34"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "70dc5ec042f7a43c4a73241207cecc9873a06d45debb38b329f8541d85c2730f"
 dependencies = [
- "bitflags",
+ "bitflags 2.6.0",
  "errno",
  "libc",
  "linux-raw-sys",

Cargo.toml

@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ serde_yaml = "0.9.34"
 slug = "0.1.5"
 snafu = "0.8.3"
 unicode-normalization = "0.1.23"
+filetime = "0.2.23"
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 pretty_assertions = "1.4.0"

deny.toml

@@ -62,6 +62,12 @@ skip = [
     #    result. We can then choose to again skip that version, or decide more
     #    drastic action is needed.
     "syn:<=1.0.109",
+    # filetime depends on redox_syscall which depends on bitflags 1.x, whereas
+    # other dependencies in our tree depends on bitflags 2.x. This should solve
+    # itself when a new release is made for filetime, as redox_syscall is
+    # deprecated and already replaced by libredox anyway
+    # (https://github.com/alexcrichton/filetime/pull/103)
+    "bitflags:<=1.3.2",
 ]
 wildcards = "deny"
 allow-wildcard-paths = false

src/lib.rs

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
 use std::{fmt, str};
 
 pub use context::Context;
+use filetime::set_file_mtime;
 use frontmatter::{frontmatter_from_str, frontmatter_to_str};
 pub use frontmatter::{Frontmatter, FrontmatterStrategy};
 use pathdiff::diff_paths;
@@ -160,6 +161,20 @@ pub enum ExportError {
         source: ignore::Error,
     },
 
+    #[snafu(display("Failed to read the mtime of '{}'", path.display()))]
+    /// This occurs when a file's modified time cannot be read
+    ModTimeReadError {
+        path: PathBuf,
+        source: std::io::Error,
+    },
+
+    #[snafu(display("Failed to set the mtime of '{}'", path.display()))]
+    /// This occurs when a file's modified time cannot be set
+    ModTimeSetError {
+        path: PathBuf,
+        source: std::io::Error,
+    },
+
     #[snafu(display("No such file or directory: {}", path.display()))]
     /// This occurs when an operation is requested on a file or directory which does not exist.
     PathDoesNotExist { path: PathBuf },
@@ -227,6 +242,7 @@ pub struct Exporter<'a> {
     vault_contents: Option<Vec<PathBuf>>,
     walk_options: WalkOptions<'a>,
     process_embeds_recursively: bool,
+    preserve_mtime: bool,
     postprocessors: Vec<&'a Postprocessor<'a>>,
     embed_postprocessors: Vec<&'a Postprocessor<'a>>,
 }
@@ -243,6 +259,7 @@ impl<'a> fmt::Debug for Exporter<'a> {
                 "process_embeds_recursively",
                 &self.process_embeds_recursively,
             )
+            .field("preserve_mtime", &self.preserve_mtime)
             .field(
                 "postprocessors",
                 &format!("<{} postprocessors active>", self.postprocessors.len()),
@@ -270,6 +287,7 @@ impl<'a> Exporter<'a> {
             frontmatter_strategy: FrontmatterStrategy::Auto,
             walk_options: WalkOptions::default(),
             process_embeds_recursively: true,
+            preserve_mtime: false,
             vault_contents: None,
             postprocessors: vec![],
             embed_postprocessors: vec![],
@@ -312,6 +330,15 @@ impl<'a> Exporter<'a> {
         self
     }
 
+    /// Set whether the modified time of exported files should be preserved.
+    ///
+    /// When `preserve` is true, the modified time of exported files will be set to the modified
+    /// time of the source file.
+    pub fn preserve_mtime(&mut self, preserve: bool) -> &mut Self {
+        self.preserve_mtime = preserve;
+        self
+    }
+
     /// Append a function to the chain of [postprocessors][Postprocessor] to run on exported
     /// Obsidian Markdown notes.
     pub fn add_postprocessor(&mut self, processor: &'a Postprocessor<'_>) -> &mut Self {
@@ -392,7 +419,13 @@ impl<'a> Exporter<'a> {
             true => self.parse_and_export_obsidian_note(src, dest),
             false => copy_file(src, dest),
         }
-        .context(FileExportSnafu { path: src })
+        .context(FileExportSnafu { path: src })?;
+
+        if self.preserve_mtime {
+            copy_mtime(src, dest).context(FileExportSnafu { path: src })?;
+        }
+
+        Ok(())
     }
 
     fn parse_and_export_obsidian_note(&self, src: &Path, dest: &Path) -> Result<()> {
@@ -766,6 +799,16 @@ fn create_file(dest: &Path) -> Result<File> {
     Ok(file)
 }
 
+fn copy_mtime(src: &Path, dest: &Path) -> Result<()> {
+    let metadata = fs::metadata(src).context(ModTimeReadSnafu { path: src })?;
+    let modified_time = metadata
+        .modified()
+        .context(ModTimeReadSnafu { path: src })?;
+
+    set_file_mtime(dest, modified_time.into()).context(ModTimeSetSnafu { path: dest })?;
+    Ok(())
+}
+
 fn copy_file(src: &Path, dest: &Path) -> Result<()> {
     fs::copy(src, dest)
         .or_else(|err| {

src/main.rs

@@ -57,6 +57,13 @@ struct Opts {
     #[options(no_short, help = "Don't process embeds recursively", default = "false")]
     no_recursive_embeds: bool,
 
+    #[options(
+        no_short,
+        help = "Preserve the mtime of exported files",
+        default = "false"
+    )]
+    preserve_mtime: bool,
+
     #[options(
         no_short,
         help = "Convert soft line breaks to hard line breaks. This mimics Obsidian's 'Strict line breaks' setting",
@@ -97,6 +104,7 @@ fn main() {
     let mut exporter = Exporter::new(root, destination);
     exporter.frontmatter_strategy(args.frontmatter_strategy);
     exporter.process_embeds_recursively(!args.no_recursive_embeds);
+    exporter.preserve_mtime(args.preserve_mtime);
     exporter.walk_options(walk_options);
 
     if args.hard_linebreaks {

tests/export_test.rs

@@ -360,6 +360,44 @@ fn test_no_recursive_embeds() {
     );
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn test_preserve_mtime() {
+    let tmp_dir = TempDir::new().expect("failed to make tempdir");
+
+    let mut exporter = Exporter::new(
+        PathBuf::from("tests/testdata/input/main-samples/"),
+        tmp_dir.path().to_path_buf(),
+    );
+    exporter.preserve_mtime(true);
+    exporter.run().expect("exporter returned error");
+
+    let src = "tests/testdata/input/main-samples/obsidian-wikilinks.md";
+    let dest = tmp_dir.path().join(PathBuf::from("obsidian-wikilinks.md"));
+    let src_meta = std::fs::metadata(src).unwrap();
+    let dest_meta = std::fs::metadata(dest).unwrap();
+
+    assert_eq!(src_meta.modified().unwrap(), dest_meta.modified().unwrap());
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn test_no_preserve_mtime() {
+    let tmp_dir = TempDir::new().expect("failed to make tempdir");
+
+    let mut exporter = Exporter::new(
+        PathBuf::from("tests/testdata/input/main-samples/"),
+        tmp_dir.path().to_path_buf(),
+    );
+    exporter.preserve_mtime(false);
+    exporter.run().expect("exporter returned error");
+
+    let src = "tests/testdata/input/main-samples/obsidian-wikilinks.md";
+    let dest = tmp_dir.path().join(PathBuf::from("obsidian-wikilinks.md"));
+    let src_meta = std::fs::metadata(src).unwrap();
+    let dest_meta = std::fs::metadata(dest).unwrap();
+
+    assert_ne!(src_meta.modified().unwrap(), dest_meta.modified().unwrap());
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn test_non_ascii_filenames() {
     let tmp_dir = TempDir::new().expect("failed to make tempdir");