Deterministic builds?

[Erik Cederstrand]

Den 12/11/2010 kl. 21.20 skrev Giorgos Keramidas:

>> 
>> Since the SVN rev. is recorded, I think a timestamp is redundant. Any
>> ideas where I can disable the timestamps in the source?
> 
> The timestamp is not 'redundant'.  It records _when_ you compiled the
> sources of the kernel, which in itself is a useful bit of information.

I'm curious as to why this might be useful? Would the mtime of the file not be be sufficient? I can only think of debugging purposes, but apart from the timestamp, two kernels with the same rev. would be bitwise identical, so I think the rev. number is more useful. Is the timestamp not just a remnant from the CVS days?

If it is useful, why not brand all binaries with a rev. number and a timestamp?

Erik