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#1 2012-08-19 15:25:48

blackout23
Member
Registered: 2011-11-16
Posts: 781

File creation tracking of programs

Hi,
does anyone know if there is a program that tracks all the files created (modified even) by certain programs at run-time? Let's say say package xyz just contains two files one
goes into /usr/bin and one into /etc/. pacman -R would delete these files but when the first time xyz is run it creates a folder abc in ~/.config it will stay there after
it has be uninstalled with pacman. Most of the time the only leftovers are in ~/.local/share/ and ~/.config/ but it can be tricky sometimes. It is rare that I want to keep
my config files for later use. Most of the time I want to get back to a state like I never installed this program at all. This is useful, when you messed something up and simply
want to start fresh. But if you reinstall it with pacman it will almost certainly not fix your problem because it keeps all the hidden configs.

I'd really like a prompt when uninstalling a package that says "Hey chromium created these files like .cache/chromium and .config/chromium/whatever that are not part of the package and will therefore not be removed do you want to get rid of them. [Y/n]

If you could track, that it should be easy to create file dependencies. A file that has never ever been accessed by any other program can be safely removed with the program itself.  If a file has been modified by program A and B it would be
unwise to remove it when you uninstall A or B. In which case you only undo whatever the program did to this file or just leave it as it is.

Regards,

blackout23

Last edited by blackout23 (2012-08-19 15:39:26)

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#2 2012-08-19 16:22:17

Wintervenom
Member
Registered: 2008-08-20
Posts: 1,011

Re: File creation tracking of programs

You would never, ever, ever want a package manager messing around with things in /hometongue
Also, this wouldn't work for those who disable the access time logging feature of their file system.

Last edited by Wintervenom (2012-08-19 16:25:51)

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#3 2012-08-19 16:26:42

blackout23
Member
Registered: 2011-11-16
Posts: 781

Re: File creation tracking of programs

Still I'd like to have a program where I can monitor file system changes on my own for the reasons stated above.
Windows is even worse it litters your hard drive like there is no tomorrow. %AppData is the cesspool of Windows. Every
programm pisses and shits there and doesn't clean it up when you remove it. It does not make any sense. It's just garbage
laying around.

Last edited by blackout23 (2012-08-19 16:28:41)

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#4 2012-08-19 16:28:42

Wintervenom
Member
Registered: 2008-08-20
Posts: 1,011

Re: File creation tracking of programs

In that case, see inotifywatch and inotifywait.
They are a part of the inotify-tools package.

Last edited by Wintervenom (2012-08-19 16:29:04)

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#5 2012-08-19 17:13:44

ewaller
Administrator
From: Pasadena, CA
Registered: 2009-07-13
Posts: 19,740

Re: File creation tracking of programs

How about Git or Mercurial?  Generate a repository and place the config directory under version control.  After you run the program, you can see what changed and/or restore what had been there from the repository.


Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
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#6 2012-08-30 01:31:47

ConnorBehan
Package Maintainer (PM)
From: Long Island NY
Registered: 2007-07-05
Posts: 1,359
Website

Re: File creation tracking of programs

Sounds like a thread I made a long time ago. Thanks for bringing back memories!


6EA3 F3F3 B908 2632 A9CB E931 D53A 0445 B47A 0DAB
Great things come in tar.xz packages.

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#7 2012-08-31 19:40:59

blackout23
Member
Registered: 2011-11-16
Posts: 781

Re: File creation tracking of programs

Cool feels good  not be alone, lol.

Still think this would be extremely helpful to know which process accessed and modified any given file just by right-clicking on it and looking at the properties. I wish I had something like this when I was still using windows.
If a virus doesn't implement countermessures against it, it would be easy to find every modified file so you can remove any chance of it replicating itself back from hidden files after deleting the main exectuable.

To bad I can't even program a VCR. Otherwise I would make this my lifetime project for which everyone would hate me just like Lennart Poettering for Pulseaudio.

Last edited by blackout23 (2012-08-31 19:43:14)

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