Why isn Git preserving modification time on files?
Modification time on files is a feature that affects build tools. Most build tools compare the timestamp of the source(s) with the timestamp of the derived file(s). If the source is newer, then a rebuild takes place, otherwise nothing happens. This speeds up the build process a lot. Now consider what would happen if you check out another branch, and modification times were preserved. We assume you already have a fully-built project. If a source file on that other branch has a timestamp that is older than that of the corresponding derived file, the derived file will not be built even if it is different, because the build system only compares modification times. At best, you’ll get some kind of weird secondary error; but most likely everything will look fine at first, but you will not get the same result as you would have with a clean build. That situation is unhealthy since you really do not know what code you are executing and the source of the problem is hard to find. You will end up
