Why not? (Excuse my wooky shell scripting; this is just concept)
#!/bin/bash
# setpackage - starts package accumulation
# usage: package-name
# jhp 1Jun96
mkdir /var/adm/package-times 2>/dev/null
touch /var/adm/package-times/$1.start
then unpack your files. End with...
#!/bin/bash
# endpackage - ends package accumulation
# usage: package-name
# jhp 1Jun96
touch /var/adm/package-times/$1.end
Now that you've done all that, you can run this little script a few times
underneath different directories to get a list of files that have been
touched or created...
#!/bin/bash
# listpackage - list package contents
# usage: package-name directory
# jhp 1Jun96
cd /var/adm/package-times
find $2 -cnewer $1.start ! -cnewer $1.end -print
echo .
find $2 -newer $1.start ! -newer $1.end -print
which will produce the list of files created under a certain directory
between setpackage and endpackage, followed by a ., followed by all the
files modified in that span of time. (Modified files are important to watch
for so that you know what config files your install just put itself into.)
(This desperately needs some manual or perl post-processing, but I'm
certainly not up to automating it.)
Bad news: Many other files may have been modified in the timespan between
setpackage and endpackage. Of course, you'll select your surveillance paths
carefully (avoiding /home and /tmp, mainly), including /bin, /sbin, /etc,
/usr (no one said it had to be fast =:^) ) and perhaps a few others.
Also, without a journaling filesystem, you can't undo changes to config
files. Soft links may also pose a bit of a problem as to checking for
uniqueness.
Followups to linux-admin (as this really _isn't_ a kernel issue, and
probably should not be).
-jhp
-- Jon Pickard * 149 Olive #45 * Paso Robles CA 93446 * +1 805 2399518 * 6372F5B9