lsch: list all added, deleted, or modified files in the current directory and its subdirectories.

Another little Linux tool for tracking modifications within a directory tree.

Invocation

▶ ./lsch --help
Usage: lsch [OPTIONS]

List all added, deleted, or modified files in the current directory and its subdirectories.

Options:
  -0          use ASCII null as output separator
  -r,--reset  record the current state of the directory tree for further comparisons
  -h,--help   display this help and exit

Modified items are displayed one per line, each prefixed with a status symbol and a space. The status symbol is '+' for added files, '-' for deleted files, and '*' for modified files. Only regular files and symbolic links are tracked. The current directory and all its subdirectories must not be modified while the scan is in progress.

The tool does not store any diff information (like svn or git), nor it maintains any history beyond the state of the directory tree at the last lsch -r invocation. Typically the tool is useful in scenarios where only the names of the changed (deleted, modified) files are important, for example, when creating an incremental backup.

Technical details

The tool operates on the current directory only. The lsch -r starts tracking the directory by creating .lsch.db database file, and each subsequent lsch -r updates the file, while lsch (with no parameters) uses the database to display the changes.

Symbolic links are not followed, only their target pathnames get compared.

System requirements

Lua version 5.4, plus the following Linux utilities:

• sha256sum
• find
• gzip
• xargs

So far the tool has been tested on Linux Mint from version 20.3 and above, but it is likely to work on other (at least Debian-based) Linux distributions.

Installation

Clone the repository with git clone --recursive, then either

• make install to install lsch system-wide, or
• make PREFIX=~ install for local installation, or
• just make and then copy lsch file to any suitable location.