Hash a file again when its mtime moved back, not only forward (closes #176) (#182)

README.md

@@ -208,8 +208,8 @@ makes the comparison exact. Reading samples cuts a 150 GiB file to about 150 MiB
 of reads, at the price of a comparison that is not exact.
 
 The hashes live in a database that is kept between runs. A rescan reads only new
-files, and files whose size changed or whose modification time (mtime) is newer
-than recorded. All analysis then works from the database alone.
+files, and files whose size or modification time (mtime) differs from their
+record. All analysis then works from the database alone.
 
 The goal is whole duplicated trees, not only single files. A download extracted
 twice, or a project copied once too often, is such a tree. It can be removed as
@@ -410,17 +410,16 @@ operands:
 
 - A file not yet in the database is hashed and inserted.
 - A file already in the database is not read again when its size and mtime match
-  its record. The mtime matches when it is not newer than the recorded one. This
-  is what makes a daily rescan cheap.
+  its record. This is what makes a daily rescan cheap.
 - When such a file's size on disk differs from its recorded `disk_size`, `scan`
   updates `disk_size` alone. It still does not read the file, and counts it as
   unchanged. ZFS, for example, counts a new file's blocks up to seconds after
   the write. A block is the unit in which a filesystem allocates disk space. A
   file scanned within those seconds gets its real `disk_size` at the next scan.
-- `scan` hashes a file again when its size differs or its mtime is newer. The
-  mtime is compared to the nanosecond, as finely as the filesystem records it. A
-  same-size rewrite counts as a change whenever the filesystem gives it a later
-  mtime, even within the same second.
+- `scan` hashes a file again when its size or its mtime differs from its record.
+  An older mtime counts as much as a newer one. A file put back by `cp -p`,
+  `rsync -a` or a restore from backup often has an older mtime. The mtime is
+  compared to the nanosecond, as finely as the filesystem records it.
 - The scan deletes each record under a scanned operand whose file it could not
   verify. That covers deleted files, and paths the scan could not stat or read
   this run. To stat a file is to read its details, such as its size, without

internal/sfdupes/scan.go

@@ -545,7 +545,7 @@ func (s *scanState) walkPhase(events <-chan walkEvent, roots []string) {
 		prog.increment()
 
 		old, ok := s.existing[ev.rec.path]
-		if !ok || old.size != ev.rec.size || mtimeAfter(ev.rec.mtime, old.mtime) {
+		if !ok || old.size != ev.rec.size || !ev.rec.mtime.Equal(old.mtime) {
 			s.toHash = append(s.toHash, ev.rec)
 
 			continue
@@ -780,16 +780,6 @@ func (s *scanState) updatePhase(ctx context.Context) error {
 	return applyChanges(ctx, s.db, nil, deletes, prog)
 }
 
-// mtimeAfter reports whether mtime a is later than mtime b.
-// Not a.After(b): time.Time wraps an mtime past year 292 billion; Unix() undoes it.
-func mtimeAfter(a, b time.Time) bool {
-	if a.Unix() != b.Unix() {
-		return a.Unix() > b.Unix()
-	}
-
-	return a.Nanosecond() > b.Nanosecond()
-}
-
 // underAnyRoot reports whether path is any of the roots or lies under
 // one of them.
 func underAnyRoot(path string, roots []string) bool {

internal/sfdupes/scan_test.go

@@ -1384,6 +1384,47 @@ func TestSyncScanMtimeBump(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// TestSyncScanMtimeMovedBack replaces a file with other content of the
+// same size and an older mtime, as cp -p or a restore from backup does.
+// The next scan must hash the file again.
+func TestSyncScanMtimeMovedBack(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	db := openTestDB(t)
+	a := writeFile(t, dir, "a.bin", pattern(1, 500))
+
+	recorded := time.Date(2026, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 0, time.UTC)
+
+	err := os.Chtimes(a, recorded, recorded)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	syncTree(t, db, dir)
+
+	replaced := pattern(3, 500)
+	writeFile(t, dir, "a.bin", replaced)
+
+	older := recorded.Add(-time.Hour)
+
+	err = os.Chtimes(a, older, older)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	st := syncTree(t, db, dir)
+	if st != (scanStats{walked: 1, updated: 1}) {
+		t.Fatalf("rescan stats = %+v, want 1 updated", st)
+	}
+
+	assertWholeFileHashed(t, db, a, replaced)
+
+	if r := recordByPath(t, dbRecords(t, db), a); !r.mtime.Equal(older) {
+		t.Fatalf("mtime = %v, want %v", r.mtime, older)
+	}
+}
+
 // assertWholeFileHashed fails unless the record for path holds the
 // whole-file hash of data as its head, tail, and content.
 func assertWholeFileHashed(t *testing.T, db *sql.DB, path string,