I've been asked to find out when a specific version of software was installed.  The only thing I have to go on are the modification times of the directories in question.  I'm having a hard time deciphering when we installed it:/opt/pkg/totalview:drwxr-xr-x. 3 root root 4 Jan 23  2013 8.11.0-0/opt/pkg/totalview/8.11.0-0:lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 32 Jan 23  2013 bin -> toolworks/totalview.8.11.0-0/bindrwxrwxr-x. 5 root root  5 Dec 11  2012 toolworks/opt/pkg/totalview/8.11.0-0/bin:-r-xr-xr-x. 1 root root  3391 Oct 25  2012 htmlhelp.shlrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root    38 Dec 11  2012 memscape -> ../../memoryscape.3.3.0-0/bin/memscapelrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root    39 Dec 11  2012 memscript -> ../../memoryscape.3.3.0-0/bin/memscript-r-xr-xr-x. 1 root root  9161 Oct 25  2012 mrnet_commnodelrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root     3 Dec 11  2012 sctotalview -> tv8lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root     6 Dec 11  2012 sctotalviewcli -> tv8clilrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root     3 Dec 11  2012 sctv8 -> tv8lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root     6 Dec 11  2012 sctv8cli -> tv8clilrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root     3 Dec 11  2012 totalview -> tv8lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root     6 Dec 11  2012 totalviewcli -> tv8cli-r-xr-xr-x. 3 root root 21970 Oct 25  2012 tv8-r-xr-xr-x. 3 root root 21970 Oct 25  2012 tv8cli-r-xr-xr-x. 2 root root 19093 Oct 25  2012 tvdbootstrap-r-xr-xr-x. 2 root root 19093 Oct 25  2012 tvdsvr-r-xr-xr-x. 3 root root 21970 Oct 25  2012 tvscript-r-xr-xr-x. 1 root root  6968 Oct 25  2012 visualize/opt/pkg/totalview/8.11.0-0/toolworks:drwxrwxr-x.  5 root root  9 Dec 11  2012 flexlm-10.8.0-3drwxrwxr-x.  5 root root 19 Oct 25  2012 memoryscape.3.3.0-0drwxrwxr-x. 17 root root 17 Dec 11  2012 totalview.8.11.0-0I see three primary dates:January 23, 2013 December 11, 2012October 25, 2012What can I look at to try and determine when this software was actually installed?  This software was installed from source, and is not part of an rpm or yum install.  I understand that I can do stat to get some more information, but I'm not able to confidently determine which one of these three dates was when it was installed.EDIT: the results of ls -lc/opt/pkg/totalview:drwxr-xr-x. 3 root root 4 Jan 23  2013 8.11.0-0/opt/pkg/totalview/8.11.0-0:lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 32 Jan 23  2013 bin -> toolworks/totalview.8.11.0-0/bindrwxrwxr-x. 5 root root  5 Dec 11  2012 toolworks/opt/pkg/totalview/8.11.0-0/bin:-r-xr-xr-x. 1 root root  3391 Nov  5 03:34 htmlhelp.shlrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root    38 Dec 11  2012 memscape -> ../../memoryscape.3.3.0-0/bin/memscapelrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root    39 Dec 11  2012 memscript -> ../../memoryscape.3.3.0-0/bin/memscript-r-xr-xr-x. 1 root root  9161 Nov  5 03:34 mrnet_commnodelrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root     3 Dec 11  2012 sctotalview -> tv8lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root     6 Dec 11  2012 sctotalviewcli -> tv8clilrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root     3 Dec 11  2012 sctv8 -> tv8lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root     6 Dec 11  2012 sctv8cli -> tv8clilrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root     3 Dec 11  2012 totalview -> tv8lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root     6 Dec 11  2012 totalviewcli -> tv8cli-r-xr-xr-x. 3 root root 21970 Nov  5 03:34 tv8-r-xr-xr-x. 3 root root 21970 Nov  5 03:34 tv8cli-r-xr-xr-x. 2 root root 19093 Nov  5 03:34 tvdbootstrap-r-xr-xr-x. 2 root root 19093 Nov  5 03:34 tvdsvr-r-xr-xr-x. 3 root root 21970 Nov  5 03:34 tvscript-r-xr-xr-x. 1 root root  6968 Nov  5 03:34 visualize/opt/pkg/totalview/8.11.0-0/toolworks:drwxrwxr-x.  5 root root  9 Dec 11  2012 flexlm-10.8.0-3drwxrwxr-x.  5 root root 19 Dec 11  2012 memoryscape.3.3.0-0drwxrwxr-x. 17 root root 17 Dec 11  2012 totalview.8.11.0-0
How can I determine the date when a piece of software was installed from source?
linux;filesystems;software installation;source
The ctime is a firm indication of the latest date at which the software might have been installed: it was installed no later than 2013-01-23. However, it is entirely possible (and likely here) that the software was installed before; the ctime may have changed due to permission changes or restoring from a backup or copying files around.In all likelihood, the program was compiled on or before 2012-10-25, the mtime of the compiled executables. Unless someone deliberately changed the file times, the dates on the executable indicate when the executables were compiled, or when they were later copied (without -p).There is a good chance that the software was compiled on 2012-10-25 and installed on this machine on 2012-12-11, the mtime of the symlinks. However, it is also possible that the program was compiled on 2012-10-25, then installed to a temporary location (which involved creating the symlinks) on 2012-12-11, then packed into a tarball or other archive format, and untarred at some point between 2012-12-11 and 2013-01-23.