BOS_GETDATE(8)

📦
version 1.8.16.1 · 11 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💖 BOS_GETDATE — bestie edition 💖

okay so this is BOS_GETDATE(8) from the AFS Command Reference, and it's genuinely one of the cutest little commands in the whole BOS family. it's basically a vibe check for your binaries' timestamps. no big deal. just showing you when things happened. iconic behaviour honestly.

✨ NAME ✨

bos_getdate — displays the time stamps on an AFS binary file 🕰️

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

bos getdate -server <machine name> -file <files to check>+
    [-dir <destination dir>] [-cell <cell name>]
    [-noauth] [-localauth] [-help]

bos getd -s <machine name> -f <files to check>+
    [-d <destination dir>] [-c <cell name>] [-n] [-l]
    [-h]

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so bos getdate shows you the time stamps on the current version, the ".BAK" version (if there even is one), and the ".OLD" version (again, if any) of every binary file you name with the -file argument. 💅

and like… where did .BAK and .OLD come from, you ask? the BOS Server literally auto-creates them whenever new binaries get installed with the bos install command. it's giving "the filesystem is doing the most, but thoughtfully." 🙈

important detail, bestie: those files have to live in the /usr/lib/openafs directory on the server machine you named with the -server argument — unless the -dir argument points at some other directory instead. so like, you can vibe elsewhere, but only if you say so.

want to revert to the ".BAK" version of a binary? that's a bos uninstall situation. want to yeet the obsolete binary files out of /usr/lib/openafs? that's bos prune. different commands, different slays. periodt. 🌈

👑 OPTIONS 👑

  • -server <machine name> — tells it which server machine to pull the binary file list from. you can ID the machine by IP address or by host name (fully-qualified, or abbreviated as long as it's unambiguous). need the full details? see bos(8).

and here's a lil fact that's lowkey fascinating: all server machines of the same AFS system type show the same timestamps — if the binaries were installed properly on the binary distribution machine for this machine's system type, and if all the other machines of that type are running the appropriate "upclientbin" process. so like, consistency is a group project. 🫶

  • -file <files to check>+ — names each binary file to list. yes, you can name more than one. go off. 💅
  • -dir <destination dir> — gives the complete pathname of the local disk directory holding each file named by -file. you only actually need this if the files aren't chillin' in /usr/lib/openafs. otherwise, skip it. ✨
  • -cell <cell name> — names the cell you want to run the command in. 🚫 do NOT combine this with the -localauth flag. for more details, see bos(8).
  • -noauth — assigns the unprivileged identity "anonymous" to whoever issued the command. 🚫 do NOT combine this flag with -localauth. for more details, see bos(8).
  • -localauth — constructs a server ticket using a key from the local /etc/openafs/server/KeyFile or /etc/openafs/server/KeyFileExt file. the bos command interpreter then presents that ticket to the BOS Server during mutual authentication. 🔐 🚫 do NOT combine this flag with the -cell or -noauth options. for more details, see bos(8).
  • -help — prints the online help for this command. heads up: all other valid options are ignored. yeah. all of them. it said what it said. 💀

💜 OUTPUT 💜

for every single file you specify with -file, the output shows the time stamp on the current (unmarked) version, the ".BAK" version, and the ".OLD" version. 🌟

and the way that it's honest enough to explicitly report when a version doesn't exist, instead of just quietly omitting it and leaving you confused? we love transparency. bestie behaviour fr fr. 🫶

🎀 EXAMPLES 🎀

okay so this command right here examines the time stamps on the files with the basename "kaserver" on the machine "fs2.example.com":

% bos getdate -server fs2.example.com -file kaserver
File /usr/lib/openafs/kaserver dated Mon Jan 4 10:00:36 1999.
.BAK file dated Wed Dec 9 18:55:04 1998, no .OLD file.

look at that output. clean. informative. no .OLD file, and it told us. 💅✨

🔥 PRIVILEGE REQUIRED 🔥

None 🎉

(not me getting excited about a command that requires literally zero privilege… but honestly? slay.)

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

KeyFile(5), KeyFileExt(5), bos(8), bos_install(8), bos_prune(8), bos_uninstall(8)

iykyk 💖

IBM Corporation 2000. <http://www.ibm.com/> All Rights Reserved.

This documentation is covered by the IBM Public License Version 1.0. It was converted from HTML to POD by software written by Chas Williams and Russ Allbery, based on work by Alf Wachsmann and Elizabeth Cassell. 👑 (shoutout to the whole squad for the conversion work, we appreciate you)

okay bestie, that's the whole page. go forth, check those timestamps, and remember: this was OpenAFS, dated 2026-07-27, and you absolutely ate this read. 💖✨🦋🎀 no cap.

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