Stop Firefox redate-stamping unmodified bookmarks?

Every time Firefox is run, it redate-stamps bookmarks.html when I make no changes. Is there a way to stop this changing of the date when the file is not modified by the user?

 

I am not sure what you are saying. All programs as far back as Netscape 6.x have had bookmarks in a single file, called bookmarks.html.
Firefox began making daily backups of the file, up to five, in a bookmarksbackup folder. The bookmarks.html file was still present, undated. However, if you right click on the file, of the program, once opened on the hard drive, it will say that the file has been modified. None of the contents of the file is changed. I am using three different profiles for different builds of Firefox, and only the one which I am using now shows that the file has been modified. If the View|Visit date column is enabled, it will show when a certain bookmark was visited. May be this is what you mean.

 

Alex,

Unless you find someone on the MozillaZine Forum who might have a hack, then the answer is no, as least not in the GUI.

 

Example: I have five machines on my network. The bookmarks.html file gets synchronized every two hours on the odd half hour among all five machines--1:30, 3:30, 5:30, etc. If I modify the bookmarks file on the office machine at 1:35 and then I go to the shop machine at 2:15 and use Firefox (not making change to bookmarks) and then close Firefox on the shop, at 3:30 the unmodified bookmarks on shop overwrites bookmarks on office, causing the loss of changes made to office at 1:35 because Firefox in the shop redated the bookmarks file even though bookmarks in the shop was not modified.

I hope that helps.

 

I have only one machine online. But, there was a time when I used two, which were not, completely independent. As I can see, if each machine would have its own profile, what you describe would be impossible. But, if you share the same profile, and the machines are networked, it is the only explanation.
Although I have, online, only one machine, I have three Firefox builds on it.
They could be identical, although they are, slightly different. But, I have one profile per build. So, I have an entirely different set of bookmarks in each, not affected for the others.
So, if one profile is used on several machine, it is incorrect to expect that each machine would behave differently. It is a case of what's done last wins. If a different profile is created for each machine, the Profile Manager will be able to control this situation, or this by-pass from Ramona's website will do the job.
Am I anywhere near the correct situation?

 

If I'm following thread correctly ...
Alex is trying to synchronize bookmarks.html between all 5 machines (not the profile). This would be difficult because Firebox runs it's own "internel" backup for each machine, resetting the "Date value" whether information changed or not. For myself, synchronized backups are the most difficult to manage, which is why I avoid them.

UPDATE
Alex, with no date/time stamp for each UNIQUE record contained within the same 5 file names, I find no simply solution. ONE file shared between multiple machines is a network file and requires "real time rules" to manage the contents of the file. This primarily involves "record locks" when any one machine changes a record of the file.

 

Dennis L,
I was trying to guess what Alex wanted to do. But, you are correct. If a file is shared between machines,

then I honestly do not understand what Alex wanted to do, but, totally separate profiles would obviate the situation.