[Zope] File Modified time not preserved/Dreamweaver synchronize issues

[Chad Eberle]

Hello.

I'm evaluating Zope for use as our department's web server.  Preferably, I'd
like Zope to be the only server, but a seemingly-insignificant issue has
made that prospect unlikely.  I currently have a test Zope server running on
a Win2k machine.  The version numbers follow:

Zope Version  (Zope 2.5.1 (binary release, python 2.1, win32-x86), python
2.1.3, win32)
Python Version  2.1.3 (#35, Apr 8 2002, 17:47:50) [MSC 32 bit (Intel)]

When our web designer uses Dreamweaver to update the web site, she typically
has it upload the entire site and Dreamweaver uses the file modification
time to determine which files should be replaced and which should be left
alone.  Unfortunately, when you upload a file via WebDAV or FTP, the "last
modified" time gets changed to the Zope server's time.

Which prompts the following questions: 1) Is there away to get Zope to
emulate the standard behavior of FTP/WebDAV services without delving into
the source code?  2) Ok, where do I look in the source code?  3) Can this
behavior be an option in a future version of Zope?

Secondly, there seems to be some issue with how Zope FTP/WebDav reports the
file modification time.  Using Windows' WebFolders WebDAV interface shows
the modification times as the same time zone as the machine the Zope server
is running (PST).  But with Dreamweaver's WebDAV and other FTP clients add 7
hours to the modification time.  Yes, this puts it in GMT/UTC, which is of
course the proper way to store such information, but somehow the clients see
it as the local time zone + 7 hours.  Meanwhile, the same clients translate
the time zone just fine with other standard FTP/WebDAV servers.  Is this a
bug?

Both of these issues make our webmaster very cranky.  If she can't determine
which copy of many copies is the most recently modified, she must rely on
memory to figure out which of the 1,200 files needs updating.  If we can't
transition gradually from a standard WebDav/FTP site management to some
spiffy site management system in Zope, then chances are we won't use Zope at
all.  While I'd prefer to do web application development with Zope, I won't
be the primary person doing the development, so this "minor" inconvenience
makes Zope extremely hard to sell.

Any help would be appreciated.

--Chad Eberle, Database Specialist
  Evans School of Public Affairs at the U of WA
  109 Parrington Hall Box 353055
  Seattle, WA 98195 USA