git_author_date_initial

This script will display the initial author dates of the files of the given Git repository directory ($PWD if not given).

If you use the optional second parameter, then only the author date of the given file path will be displayed.

The initial author date is the date the original author added and committed the file to the Git repository.

You can use this script to verify the initial publication year of your copyright statements.

Usage

$ scripts/git/git_author_date_initial.sh /tmp/example
2022-04-16T15:59:50+02:00 a.txt
2022-04-16T15:59:50+02:00 b.txt
2022-04-16T16:00:14+02:00 c/d.txt
2023-04-16T16:00:41+02:00 e.txt
$ scripts/git/git_author_date_initial.sh /tmp/example | cut -c 1-4,26-
2022 a.txt
2022 b.txt
2022 c/d.txt
2023 e.txt
$ tree --noreport -a -I .git /tmp/example
/tmp/example
├── a.txt
├── b.txt
├── c
│   └── d.txt
└── e.txt
$ (cd /tmp/example && git --no-pager log --format=%aI --name-status)
2024-04-16T16:01:19+02:00

M       a.txt
2023-04-16T16:00:41+02:00

A       e.txt
2022-04-16T16:00:14+02:00

A       c/d.txt
2022-04-16T15:59:50+02:00

A       a.txt
A       b.txt
$ (cd /tmp/example && git --no-pager log --format=%aI --name-status a.txt)
2024-04-16T16:01:19+02:00

M       a.txt
2022-04-16T15:59:50+02:00

A       a.txt

git_author_date_last

$ scripts/git/git_author_date_initial.sh /tmp/example
2022-04-16T15:59:50+02:00 a.txt
2022-04-16T15:59:50+02:00 b.txt
2022-04-16T16:00:14+02:00 c/d.txt
2023-04-16T16:00:41+02:00 e.txt
$ scripts/git/git_author_date_last.sh /tmp/example
2024-04-16T16:01:19+02:00 a.txt
2022-04-16T15:59:50+02:00 b.txt
2022-04-16T16:00:14+02:00 c/d.txt
2023-04-16T16:00:41+02:00 e.txt
$ scripts/git/git_author_date_initial.sh /tmp/example | cut -c 1-4,26- > initial.txt
$ scripts/git/git_author_date_last.sh /tmp/example | cut -c 1-4,26- > last.txt
$ diff initial.txt last.txt
1c1
< 2022 a.txt
---
> 2024 a.txt