[11.5x] RAR vs 7z + no mod/create/access time

[MaxX]

First you'll need an archive without mod/create/access time+date for files inside.

For 7zip you can add:
-mtm=off -mtc=off -mta=off -mtr=off

For Rar:
-tsm- -tsc- -tsa-

Then just open these archives.

You'll see "?" mark for 7z (expected), and "01.01.1985 02:00" for RAR (should be "?" too).
Please, add this small fix for Rar. There should be no date in this case.

P.S.
Also I remember some old archives from my old Nokia (~2007, Symbian OS) without date/time for files inside that zip. I got empty string (or "?"), too.

[ghisler(Author)]

That's odd, I'm getting ? for the date also in the RAR file.
Alt+Enter on a file in the RAR archived showed Packer: rar4
Therefore I repeated the packing with switches to set rar5 format: -tsm- -tsc- -tsa- -ma5
But even then the date was shown as "?".
The test was made with WinRAR 6.24 64-bit. Maybe you used a different version, or had other switches in the rar.ini, or used a plugin to open it?

[Horst.Epp]

I don't see a reason to have files with no date info inside any archive.
What's the case to want this ?

[MaxX]

I tested this with both ver.6.24 and ver.7.11, archives are identical.

"C:\Program Files\WinRar\Rar.exe" a -m5 -tsm- -tsc- -tsa- test.rar Win11_Disable_Recall.txt

Sample files:
https://0x0.st/86hH.zip

Both 11.51 and 11.55 RC7 (both 32 and 64 bits) act the same way, show "?" in 7z (ok) and the wierd date in Rar (bad):
https://i.ibb.co/9kDcLg1v/7z.png
https://i.ibb.co/TB700kVX/rar.png

[MaxX]

UPD:
I also checked with empty wincmd.ini and got no difference there.

[ghisler(Author)]

I checked your files, and Total Commander shows ? in the date column for both.
When you press Alt+Enter on "Win11_Disable_Recall.txt" in the RAR file, what does it show in the packer field? It should show the plugin if one is used. Here it shows "rar4" for the internal rar 4 unpacker.

[MaxX]

It should be rar 5 format there, not rar 4.
https://i.ibb.co/2168pnQR/empty-ini.png

[AntonyD]

Strange thing is that - if we will call the same "Properties" dialog above the packed file inside the 7z archive
we in fact WILL see the date-time! Only it will be 01.01.9999 00:00:00 and not "?" as we see in a file panels!
But I would expect here to see just simple "-----" in both fields, btw!

[norfie²]

TCmd V11.55RC7 x32 and x64 - both display "01.01.1985 01:00" on Windows 11 x64 with a fresh wincmd.ini here i.e. it has nothing to do with any plugin.

[ghisler(Author)]

Sorry, I had renamed the unrar dll to test unpacking RAR files with the tc7z dll! I can reproduce the problem with the unrar.dll but unfortunately it seems to be a bug in it:

Total Commander calls RARReadHeaderEx to get entry details from RAR files. There are two fields for the date in the RARHeaderDataEx structure:
1. The older FileTime in FAT format (32 bit)
2. The newer MtimeLow/MtimeHigh fields in Windows time.
The problem is that the newer fields are missing when using older unrar.dll versions. So Total Commander checks whether they are zero, and if yes, uses the older FileTime field instead.

In your file, the two fields MtimeLow/MtimeHigh are indeed zero, but not because the fields are missing, but because there is no file time stored. Unfortunately FileTime is NOT zero, it's instead set to 0xA210800 (hexadecimal), which translates to 01.01.1985 02:00.

The new fields MtimeLow/MtimeHigh were introduced with unrar dll 5.50 in June 2016, so I guess I should just ignore the FileTime field. Users who switch back to an old unrar dll (5.40 or older) would get all 0 dates then.

[AntonyD]

2ghisler(Author)
and what about case with 01.01.9999 00:00:00 from 7z archive ???

[ghisler(Author)]

That happens because the properties dialog didn't handle a timestamp of 0 in a special way. I already fixed that when fixing the other problem.

[ghisler(Author)]

This should be fixed in Total Commander 11.55 final, please check it!

[AntonyD]

Confirm as a fixed one.

[MaxX]

Also confirm the fix in both x32 and x64. Thanks.

But...
I noticed difference there
https://i.ibb.co/Kxdzb4X8/32.png
https://i.ibb.co/Mx158pfN/64.png
1. Color background
2. Window icon

It looks the same in 11.51 version.