Moved from http://bugs.musicbrainz.org/ticket/5260 and http://bugs.musicbrainz.org/ticket/70

"From: Charles Brisebois c.brisebois@rogers.com Sent: Saturday, December 31, 2005 5:18 PM To: support@musicbrainz.org Subject: edit file options

It would be nice if MusicBrainz allowed an option to edit/rename the files WITHOUT affecting the filedate & time. With very large collections, the dates (and years) associated with the files are important. MusicBrainz changes this by default to current date when renaming / editing tags. "

While some might believe this behavior (preserve file timestamp when changing metadata) incorrect, I agree with the original reporter - I believe it to be correct (or, at least, valid). It depends on what one wishes to be reflected by the file modification time - when "the data payload was last edited", or when "the data payload and/or metadata were last edited". Both are valid IMHO. For example, many(but not all) image library/metadata manipulation programs (Google Picasa, for example) do not change the file timestamps when adding/editing metadata for images.

There are merits to both methods - however, what this is asking for is not a change in default behavior, but rather just an option to support the preserve-timestamp method that many people use.

Attached patch by 'fuzz' moved from the other ticket (not verified)