archive_file changes file timestamps

[ghost]

This issue was originally opened by @rahulinux as hashicorp/terraform#18765. It was migrated here as a result of the provider split. The original body of the issue is below.

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Hi there,

When using archive_file, file timestamp set to 00-00-1980. I would really
like to use Terraform to zip files but preserve the same permission but I can't.

Tested with Terraform v0.11.8

[haidangwa]

From what I'm seeing, when I run terraform plan, archive_file will update the timestamp on the resulting zip file; however, it doesn't actually update the file contents. I verified this manually by running my own checksum comparisons, and each time, the manual checksums are identical. Only the timestamp on the zip file is updated.

Diving deeper, I think this is merely a cosmetic issue, as the file's created date doesn't appear to be changed; only the modified date is getting changed on every plan, which indicates to me that terraform is touching the file every run.

$ GetFileInfo lambda_function_payload.zip 
file: "/*********/lambda-chef-node-cleanup/terraform/lambda_function_payload.zip"
type: "\0\0\0\0"
creator: "\0\0\0\0"
attributes: avbstclinmedz
created: 01/08/2019 21:56:25
modified: 01/09/2019 13:53:06

I'm using terraform v0.11.7 and terraform-provider-archive_v1.1.0_x4 at the moment.

[dinvlad]

Would it be possible to reset the zip file timestamp? Otherwise, we obtain a different md5 on it on every run, even though the contents (incl. the timestamps of the files inside the zip) don't change.

EDIT: Upon further analysis, the difference in my case was not due to the timestamp, but rather due to a file attribute difference.