How to fix the error invalid or negative modification date

🐞 About the error "Could not update metadata due to invalid modified time"

The bug was introduced in the Desktop client 3.4.0. Currently, all known issues are resolved with version 3.4.2, except for one issue that only occurs in combination with the community build of Nextcloud, version 23.

How to figure out if you have been affected by it

• If your systems have been affected by the invalid metadata issue in desktop client 3.4.0, the error might be visible on the desktop client interface and in the logs: Could not update metadata due to invalid modified time.
• You can find the affected files in your database using a SQL query:
  SELECT COUNT(*) FROM oc_filecache WHERE mtime < 86400;

⚠️ Before you proceed

1. Note that recovering the exact modification time requires restoring backups which may be impractical if the files have been modified already.
2. You do not need to put the server in maintenance mode.
3. You do not need to make a backup of your database, however backups are always recommended as a regular practice.
4. Make sure to be running the latest desktop client.
5. Please always use the latest version of the scripts.

🔧 How to fix it

We provide the following scripts to help with the recovery of the server state.

Files stored on the server

1. Script for server side fixing of invalid dates (solvable_files.sh)
   • Copy the file to the nextcloud folder on the server.
   • chmod a+x solvable_files.sh
   • Call it with the following arguments:
     ./solvable_files.sh <path to storage folder without trailing /> <mysql|pgsql> <database host> <database user> <database password> <database name> <list|fix> <noscan|scan>
     • If you call it with the list argument: it will generate a list of the files with invalid modification date.
     • If you call it with the fix argument: it will fix all the files and the server database.
     • If you call it with the scan argument: it will automatically trigger a scan of each modified file.
     • As a last step it is necessary to scan the files on the storage (unless you used the scan argument):
       sudo -u www-data php <path to nextcloud install>/occ files:scan --all

Files stored in Group Folders

If you use the group folders feature, we provide the following scripts to help with the recovery of the files located in group folders:

1. Script to scan files in the group folders (scan_group_folders.sh)

   • Copy the file to the nextcloud folder on the server.
   • chmod a+x scan_group_folders.sh
   • Run the script:
     sudo -u <www-data|apache> ./scan_group_folders.sh

2. Script to fix the database state in case the affected files from group folders are in the trash bin or are old versioned files that may not have the correct state in the server database (fix_group_folders.sh)

   • Copy the file to the nextcloud folder on the server.
   • chmod a+x fix_group_folders.sh
   • Call it with the following arguments:
     ./fix_group_folders.sh <path to storage folder> <mysql|pgsql> <database host> <database user> <database password> <database name>

Files stored in an External Storage

For files located in an external storage like S3, the fix is only necessary in the database by updating the mtime to a valid value:
UPDATE oc_filecache SET mtime=1645452423, storage_mtime=1645452423 where mtime < 86400;