Timestamp/manifest problems caused by Antivirus

Hello all,

a recent error report of a Zero Install for Windows user made me aware of an
interesting issue: Some Windows Antivirus tools seem to modify the "last
modified" timestamps of executables they scan. This then causes generated
manifest digests to mismatch the expected values listed in feeds.

In my opinion, this kind of behavior is a bug in the Antivirus tool since it
should not "touch" a file it is only scanning. However, it does lead me to
wonder whether a new manifest format that does not include timestamps might
be useful, at least for applications that are not affected by them. After
all, tools like "make" that make decisions based on comparing the age of two
files are more of an exception than the rule, at least in the Windows world.

What do you guys think?

Regards
Bastian


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