DATALAD-CHECK-DATES(1)

📦
version 1.1.5 · 8 versions
, in debian trixie, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💅 datalad check-dates

okay so real talk — this is a page from the General Commands Manual (yes, the fancy one), and it's about datalad check-dates, a command that is genuinely iconic for one specific job: sniffing out dates that are sneakily newer than they should be. let's get into it bestie 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

datalad check-dates — literally goes and finds repository dates that are more recent than a reference date. that's the whole gig. 🕵️‍♀️

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

datalad check-dates [-h] [-D DATE] [--rev REVISION]
       [--annex {all|tree|none}] [--no-tags] [--older] [--version] [PATH
       ...]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so here's the vibe: the main character purpose of this tool is to find "leaked" real dates in repositories that are configured to use fake dates. like when someone's supposed to be wearing a disguise and their real birthday falls out of their pocket. embarrassing. 😭

it checks dates from three sources, and yes bestie we're listing all three:

  1. commit timestamps — both the author and committer dates
  2. timestamps within files of the "git-annex" branch
  3. the timestamps of annotated tags

three sources, no cap. 🔥

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • PATH — root directory in which to search for Git repositories. the current working directory gets used by default (she's lowkey assuming, but okay). Constraints: value must be a string or value must be NONE.
  • -h, --help, --help-np — show this help message. and --help-np forcefully disables the use of a pager for displaying the help message. forceful. she said what she said. 💅
  • -D DATE, --reference-date DATE — compare dates to this date. if dateutil is installed, this value can be any format that its parser recognizes (sky's the limit, gorgeous ✨). otherwise, it should be a unix timestamp that starts with a "@". the default value corresponds to 01 Jan, 2018 00:00:00 -0000. Constraints: value must be a string [Default: '@1514764800'].
  • --rev REVISION — search timestamps from commits that are reachable from REVISION. any revision specification supported by git log, including flags like --all and --tags, can be used — yes, even flags, she's flexible. this option can be given multiple times. 👑
  • --annex {all|tree|none} — mode for "git-annex" branch search. let's break it down:
    • 'all' → all blobs within the branch are searched
    • 'tree' → limits the search to blobs that are referenced by the tree at the tip of the branch
    • 'none' → disables search of "git-annex" blobs entirely (she's sitting this one out 💀)

Constraints: value must be one of ('all', 'tree', 'none') [Default: 'all'].

  • --no-tags — don't check the dates of annotated tags. bye tag energy. 🙈
  • --older — find dates which are older than the reference date rather than newer. plot twist, we're going backwards now. ⭐
  • --version — show the module and its version which provides the command. the receipts. 🧾

💜 AUTHORS 💜

datalad is developed by The DataLad Team and Contributors <team@datalad.org>. give them their flowers, fr fr 🌸💐

ngl if any of these flags confuse you just run -h — she'll explain herself (and --help-np if you're anti-pager, which, valid).

and that's the whole page bestie!! this slice of perfection comes to you from datalad check-dates version 1.1.5, dated 2025-06-15 — mwah, catch you in the next manpage 💋✨🎀

📦 where this page comes from