NAME

       changetrack - track changes to files

SYNOPSIS

       changetrack  [-h]  [-c  configfile] [-d directory] [-e] [-r] [-q] [-m message] [-M message] [-v] [-u] [-o
       toaddress] [-f fromaddress]

DESCRIPTION

       changetrack is a program to monitor changes to a bunch of files. If files are modified one day,  and  the
       machine  starts  working  incorrectly some days later, changetrack can provide information on which files
       were modified, and help locate the problem.

       Normally changetrack uses ed to keep track of various revisions of the files by maintaining an .ed script
       with the change history for each file.

       Alternatively, changetrack can use rcs to keep track of various revisions of  the  files.  Each  file  is
       "installed"  in  the  rcs  system  the first time that changetrack is run after that file is added to the
       config file. Whenever changetrack is run after that, a copy of the file is made, which  is  'checked  in'
       and  implicitly  'checked out' of the rcs system. See the man page of co for information on retrieving an
       old version of the file.

       Backup files (ending in tilde ~) are ignored, unless explicitly included.

       After each pattern in the file list, adding white space, a colon (:) then more  whitespace,  followed  by
       email  addresses,  separated by more whitespace, will result in the changes to that file being emailed to
       that address. All changes from each run are expressed in one email.  Using  the  email  feature  requires
       Mail::SendMail  to  be  installed;  if  it  does  not work correctly, an error message will be printed to
       standard error.

OPTIONS

       -h     Display a short help message then exit.

       -cconfigfile
              Get  the  list  of  files  to   track   from   configfile   instead   of   from   ~/.changetrackrc
              (/etc/changetrack.conf for the super-user)

       -doutputdirectory
              Store  output  in  outputdirectory  instead  of  in ~/.changetrack/ (/var/lib/changetrack/ for the
              super-user)

       -e     Keep a copy of the file from when it was first added to the changetrack configuration, and keep ed
              styled changes to rebuild the file.  This option is recommended only if rcs does not work  on  the
              machine.  To recover using this means, the .ed file should have the last several commands removed,
              to  allow  the  file  to  be  rebuilt to the appropriate state. A command like 'cat myfile.ed | ed
              myfile.original' should be executed.

       -r     Disable the rcs facility.

       -q     Quiet mode; only print critical messages. Good for scripts.

       -mmessage
              Print message on each file, after checking for any changes. Good for indicating reboots  or  other
              system events.

       -Mmessage
              Like -m, but message is only printed on modified files.

       -v     Print version and exit.

       -u     Use unified diffs (this only works with some implementations of diff.

       -oemailaddress
              Mail output to emailaddress. This is supplementary to emails specified in the config file.

       -femailaddress
              Set "From" header to emailaddress, which must be fully qualified.

REQUIREMENTS

       This  program requires diff.  Unless the -r switch is used, this program requires rcs to be installed. If
       the -e switch is used, ed is required.

FILES

       ~/.changetrackrc
              List of files to monitor. Each line may start with '#' indicating a comment.  If a line is  not  a
              comment,  it  contains  a  file/pattern  to  monitor,  and  optionally " : " followed by any email
              addresses to send changes to. The filename may be a pattern described in the same way as  for  ls.
              Note: the default is /etc/changetrack.conf for root.

       ~/.changetrack/
              Default  directory  in which to store output information. The default is /var/lib/changetrack/ for
              root. All rcs files are stored in this directory, unless a  subdirectory  called  RCS  exists,  in
              which case the rcs files are stored in that directory.

       /etc/cron.daily/changetrack
              Script that creates the list of all files monitor.

       /etc/cron.hourly/changetrack
              Script that invocates changetrack.

       /etc/default/changetrack
              Configuration for the above two scripts.

DIAGNOSTICS

       Each  filename  is written to standard output.  rcs will print errors if certain things go wrong. It will
       also print a few lines each time changetrack is run after a new file is added to the configuration.

IDENTIFICATION

       Author: Cameron J. Morland.
       Manual Page Revision: 2.1 Release Date: 2001-03-06.
       Copyright © 2001-2005 Cameron J. Morland.
       Changed by Jens Peter Secher to reflect the Debian modifications.

SEE ALSO

       ed(1), rcsintro(1), co(1)

TODO

       Automate removal of out-of-date changes, to save disk space and clarify the important changes.

BUGS

       None known.

                                                                                                  CHANGETRACK(1)