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######################################
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# Welcome to installwatch 0.7.0beta1 #
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######################################
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Installwatch is Copyright 1998 by Pancrazio `Ezio' de Mauro
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* Installwatch is no longer mantained by Pancrazio, you should now contact
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me with any issues relating to it:
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Felipe Eduardo Sanchez Diaz Duran <izto at asic-linux.com.mx>
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http://asic-linux.com.mx/~izto
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This package is distributed under the GPL license. Have a look at
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COPYING if you don't know what it means.
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installwatch <command>
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This monitors <command> and logs using the syslog(3) facility every created
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installwatch -o <filename> <command>
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does the same thing, but writing data in <filename>, which is truncated
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installwatch -o ~/install/foobar-x.y make install
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Extra options are displayed by running:
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Installwatch is an extremely simple utility I wrote to keep track of
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created and modified files during the installation of a new program.
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It's fast and easy to use. It doesn't require a ``pre-install'' phase
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because it monitors processes while they run.
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Installwatch works with every dynamically linked ELF program,
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overriding system calls that cause file system alterations. Some of
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such system calls are open(2) and unlink(2).
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Installwatch is especially useful on RedHat, Debian and similar
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distributions, where you can use a package system to keep track
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of installed software. (See specific package details below).
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Of course a simple `make install' does not update the package database,
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making your installation ``dirty'' -- well, kind of.
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If your room is a mess but you make RPMS even for your home directory,
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then installwatch is for you. (See RPMS below).
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Here's a typical installwatch use. After compiling your brand new
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installwatch make install
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instead of a simple make install. Then have a look at your logs.
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Installwatch logs by default using syslog(3), with a
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``LOG_USER | LOG_INFO'' priority.
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Usually the log file is /var/log/messages, but if may vary.
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If you want to log on a particular file (my preferred method) just
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installwatch -o filename make install
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The log format may look ugly at first glance, but it is designed to
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be easily processed by programs.
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Every record ends with a newline, every field is delimited with a TAB
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character (it is ``^I'' when you use syslog.)
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The fields of a record are, in order:
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<return-value> <syscall-name> <arguments> #<comment>
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So made lines are really easy to process, if arguments don't contain
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Ok, so you've done a "installwatch -o logfile make install", but how do
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you tell the RPM database about this? You use CheckInstall.
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http://asic-linux.com.mx/~izto/checkinstall
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The inst2rpm script that used to be distributed along with installwatch
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is not supported by me, it has been superseeded by CheckInstall.
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If you still want it, you can get an older version of installwatch (0.5.6),
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where you will find it inside the contrib directory. Installwatch's versions
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starting from 0.5.5 are available at
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http://asic-linux.com.mx/~izto/installwatch.html
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$Id: README,v 0.7.0.1 2003/12/14 07:13:52 izto Exp $
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installwatch-0.7.0beta4/README
