Last header change" date does not accurately reflect change-date

• Article Type: General
• Product: Aleph
• Product Version: 18.01

Description:
One of our libraries is concerned about making sure that their Aleph tables reflect the most recent changes to Aleph functionality (they have just upgraded to v18) and is questioning the "Last header change" portion of Aleph "tab" file headers. Based on headers in the /exlibris/18/aleph/a18_1/aleph/headers/libnn directory I see that many of the dates in the "Last header change" portion of files in that directory are often old. Am I looking in the right directory? Which directory does util H use in v18 when it looks for header updates?

For example, in the above directory in tab_filing I see:

!============================================================================
! tab_filing - definition of filing and normalization
! routines
!============================================================================
! Last header change: 04/01/2005
!

Resolution:
As you point out, the "Last header change " line in the headers has not always been kept up to date. You should not assume that it is correct. (The actual last update won't be any *older* than this, but it could be more recent.)

The v18 tab_filing is an example. rep_change's 504 and 672 occurred after April 2005 but the "Last header change" date was *not* updated.

The timestamp on the file in the /exlibris/18/aleph/a18_1/aleph/headers/libnn directory is a more reliable indicator. That is the file which util h uses for comparison in its updating of the library ./tab/ headers.

The staff responsible for updating the headers have been reminded that the "Last header change " line needs to be updated.

• Article last edited: 10/8/2013