diff --git a/HISTORY b/HISTORY
index 302a447d..315af0e2 100644
--- a/HISTORY
+++ b/HISTORY
@@ -9952,7 +9952,7 @@ Video Disk Recorder Revision History
 - Added the lines from 'Fixed a timeout in cDvbDevice while tuning after the frontend
   has been reopened' to cDvbTuner::ProvidesFrontend() (suggested by Markus Ehrnsperger).
 
-2024-08-30:
+2024-09-01:
 
 - Removed deprecated function cDevice::SetCurrentChannel(const cChannel *Channel).
 - Removed deprecated function cSkinDisplayMenu::SetItemEvent(const cEvent *Event, int Index,
@@ -9978,3 +9978,4 @@ Video Disk Recorder Revision History
   and select one of them.
 - Fixed a crash when deleting a recording that is currently being edited, and then
   immediately deleting the edited version, too (reported by Marko Mäkelä).
+- The '.update' file in the video directory is now created if it doesn't already exist.
diff --git a/recording.c b/recording.c
index b53908dd..e3f52fbe 100644
--- a/recording.c
+++ b/recording.c
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
  * See the main source file 'vdr.c' for copyright information and
  * how to reach the author.
  *
- * $Id: recording.c 5.29 2024/08/30 20:43:26 kls Exp $
+ * $Id: recording.c 5.30 2024/09/01 20:43:40 kls Exp $
  */
 
 #include "recording.h"
@@ -1631,7 +1631,7 @@ const char *cRecordings::UpdateFileName(void)
 void cRecordings::TouchUpdate(void)
 {
   bool needsUpdate = NeedsUpdate();
-  TouchFile(UpdateFileName());
+  TouchFile(UpdateFileName(), true);
   if (!needsUpdate)
      lastUpdate = time(NULL); // make sure we don't trigger ourselves
 }
diff --git a/tools.c b/tools.c
index 77b82389..bb9433c1 100644
--- a/tools.c
+++ b/tools.c
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
  * See the main source file 'vdr.c' for copyright information and
  * how to reach the author.
  *
- * $Id: tools.c 5.13 2024/07/15 14:42:22 kls Exp $
+ * $Id: tools.c 5.14 2024/09/01 20:43:40 kls Exp $
  */
 
 #include "tools.h"
@@ -719,9 +719,17 @@ bool SpinUpDisk(const char *FileName)
   return false;
 }
 
-void TouchFile(const char *FileName)
+void TouchFile(const char *FileName, bool Create)
 {
-  if (utime(FileName, NULL) == -1 && errno != ENOENT)
+   if (Create && access(FileName, F_OK) != 0) { // the file does not exist
+      isyslog("creating file '%s'", FileName);
+      int f = open(FileName, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT, DEFFILEMODE);
+      if (f >= 0)
+         close(f);
+      else
+         LOG_ERROR_STR(FileName);
+      }
+   if (utime(FileName, NULL) == -1 && errno != ENOENT)
      LOG_ERROR_STR(FileName);
 }
 
diff --git a/tools.h b/tools.h
index a59b24a8..8a83a1f3 100644
--- a/tools.h
+++ b/tools.h
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
  * See the main source file 'vdr.c' for copyright information and
  * how to reach the author.
  *
- * $Id: tools.h 5.9 2024/07/15 14:42:22 kls Exp $
+ * $Id: tools.h 5.10 2024/09/01 20:43:40 kls Exp $
  */
 
 #ifndef __TOOLS_H
@@ -319,7 +319,7 @@ bool RemoveEmptyDirectories(const char *DirName, bool RemoveThis = false, const
 int DirSizeMB(const char *DirName); ///< returns the total size of the files in the given directory, or -1 in case of an error
 char *ReadLink(const char *FileName); ///< returns a new string allocated on the heap, which the caller must delete (or NULL in case of an error)
 bool SpinUpDisk(const char *FileName);
-void TouchFile(const char *FileName);
+void TouchFile(const char *FileName, bool Create = false);
 time_t LastModifiedTime(const char *FileName);
 off_t FileSize(const char *FileName); ///< returns the size of the given file, or -1 in case of an error (e.g. if the file doesn't exist)
 cString WeekDayName(int WeekDay);
diff --git a/vdr.1 b/vdr.1
index f0f6eb24..2c0a68e9 100644
--- a/vdr.1
+++ b/vdr.1
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 .\" License as specified in the file COPYING that comes with the
 .\" vdr distribution.
 .\"
-.\" $Id: vdr.1 5.2 2021/12/27 13:31:04 kls Exp $
+.\" $Id: vdr.1 5.3 2024/09/01 20:43:40 kls Exp $
 .\"
 .TH vdr 1 "27 Dec 2021" "2.6" "Video Disk Recorder"
 .SH NAME
@@ -311,8 +311,11 @@ as the first character of the pattern. File names are appended to this file afte
 a recording has finished, and the entire file is read upon startup of VDR.
 .TP
 .I .update
-If this file is present in the video directory, its last modification time will
-be used to trigger an update of the list of recordings in the "Recordings" menu.
+This file (in the video directory) will be touched whenever VDR makes changes
+to the content of the directory. Its last modification time will
+be used to trigger an update of the list of recordings in any VDRs that use
+the same video directory.
+The file will be created if it doesn't already exist.
 .SH SEE ALSO
 .BR vdr (5), svdrpsend (1)
 .SH AUTHOR