can1357/oh-my-pi · error · TouchError

Source has invalid access or modification time: {0}

Error message

Source has invalid access or modification time: {0}

What it means

This touch builtin error (crates/pi-builtins/src/touch.rs, InvalidFiletime) means the reference file's access or modification timestamp, retrieved for -r/--reference mode, is out of range or otherwise invalid when converted to the internal FileTime representation. Touch cannot propagate a timestamp it cannot represent. The offending value is included in the message.

Source

Thrown at crates/pi-builtins/src/touch.rs:43

use libc::O_NONBLOCK;
#[cfg(unix)]
use rustix::fs::Timestamps;
#[cfg(unix)]
use rustix::fs::futimens;
#[cfg(target_os = "linux")]
use uucore::libc;
use uucore::{display::Quotable, parser::shortcut_value_parser::ShortcutValueParser};

use brush_core::{ShellExtensions, builtins::Registration};
use thiserror::Error as ThisError;

use crate::host::{Host, Utility, format_usage, matches_parser, util};

#[derive(Debug, ThisError)]
enum TouchError {
	#[error("Unable to parse date: {0}")]
	InvalidDateFormat(String),
	#[error("Source has invalid access or modification time: {0}")]
	InvalidFiletime(FileTime),
	#[error("failed to get attributes of {}: {}", .0.quote(), io_error(.1))]
	ReferenceFileInaccessible(PathBuf, std::io::Error),
	#[cfg(windows)]
	#[error("GetFinalPathNameByHandleW failed with code {0}")]
	WindowsStdoutPathError(String),
	#[error("{0}")]
	Message(String),
}

fn io_error(error: &std::io::Error) -> String {
	if error.raw_os_error().is_some() {
		match error.kind() {
			ErrorKind::NotFound => "No such file or directory".into(),
			ErrorKind::PermissionDenied => "Permission denied".into(),
			ErrorKind::AlreadyExists => "Already exists".into(),
			ErrorKind::WouldBlock => "Would block".into(),
			_ => error.to_string().split(" (os error ").next().unwrap_or_default().into(),

View on GitHub (pinned to 9690622007)

Solutions

1. Choose a different reference file with a sane timestamp (`stat <file>` to inspect).
2. Instead of -r, set the time explicitly: `touch -d '<timestamp>' target`.
3. Normalize the reference file's time first (`touch reference`) if its timestamp is corrupt.
4. Copy the file to a normal filesystem and use the copy as reference.

Example fix

// before
touch -r /mnt/fat/oddfile target.txt  // Source has invalid access or modification time

// after
touch -d '2026-01-01 00:00:00' target.txt

import { statSync } from 'node:fs';
function referenceTimeIsSane(p) {
  const t = statSync(p).mtimeMs;
  return Number.isFinite(t) && t > 0 && t < Date.now() + 3.15e12;
}

function isInvalidFiletimeError(err) {
  return err instanceof Error && err.message.startsWith('Source has invalid access or modification time: ');
}

try {
  await touch.run(['-r', ref, target]);
} catch (err) {
  if (String(err).startsWith('Source has invalid access or modification time')) {
    // fall back to copying the reference's mtime explicitly
    const { mtime } = statSync(ref);
    await utimes(target, mtime, mtime).catch(() => {});
  } else throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `touch -r <reference> <target>` where the reference file's stored mtime/atime is outside the representable range (e.g. extreme values on FAT/extreme epoch timestamps) or was corrupted.

Common situations: Reference files on FAT/exFAT filesystems with timestamps far outside normal ranges; archives containing malformed timestamps; clock-skew or year-1601/9999 edge values copied from other systems.

Related errors

• Unable to parse date: {0}
• failed to get attributes of {}: {}
• GetFinalPathNameByHandleW failed with code {0}
• {0}

AI-assisted analysis of can1357/oh-my-pi@9690622007 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e2f10cdab2f3bbf1. Report an issue: GitHub.