WinSCP, Debian & Sublime Text - File change not recognised by server

Question

I'm connecting to a Debian server using WinSCP (with private key not password if that makes a difference). It's setup so that when I double click on a file it opens in Sublime Text (v3, Build 3065).

Now when I save in Sublime it WinSCP detects the save and uploads the newly edited version.

I've been using this technique for a while on a number of different servers and it works flawlessly, however, on THIS new server I'm working on - the changes only appear after a number of attempts at saving.

WinSCP appears to be recognizing the file change and uploading it - so I assume this would be something on the server - especially as it works on other servers.

Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

This is likely a DST, timezone or similar timestamp issue.

On upload, WinSCP by default updates file timestamp to match that of a local file. The timestamp should be "now", as you have just saved the file. Chances are that WinSCP or the FTP server fails to convert the timestamp correctly, so that the resulting timestamp is older that the previous version of the file. If the webserver (or whatever application uses the file) employs caching (or just-in-time compilation, or similar), it may consider the uploaded file old and not worth re-reading/re-compiling.

This problem is common on Windows XP and older (due to so called "DST bug" in those versions). But it can happen on newer versions of Windows too, particularly if Automatically adjust clock for Daylight Saving Time option has been turned off.

See the WinSCP FAQ Why are the changes, I upload to webserver, not visible in the web browser? and the article on Timestamps.