you want a directory watching daemon. it isn't hard at all to build from scratch. first, determine which directories should be watched. then, os.walk each directory, building a mapping from filename to mtime [modified time; os.path.getmtime]. next is your main event loop. this while loop consists of os.walk-ing each directory again, comparing the current mtime to the corresponding entry in the mapping. if they differ, or if a filename isn't in the mapping, something happened, at which point you can logick out whether a file was moved, deleted, changed, or created.
so many folks have looked for this that i'll just write a generic one and put it in the cheeseshop. look for "dirmon" in about a week. Claudio Grondi wrote: > I am aware, that it is maybe the wrong group to ask this question, but > as I would like to know the history of past file operations from within > a Python script I see a chance, that someone in this group was into it > already and is so kind to share here his experience. > > I have put already much efforts into this subject googling around, but > up to now in vain. Best option I encountered yet is usage of > the Greyware 'System Change Log' service which monitors disks for > changes (http://www.greyware.com/software/systemchangelog/index.asp), > but in own tests it turned out, that the created log file does not cover > all file events as e.g. it is not possible to detect when a file is > moved to a new directory (creation of a new file is logged, but deletion > is not, not mentioning I would expect a file 'move' event). > The own Windows logging service rejected to start on my XP SP2 system > for unknown to me reasons - I don't know how to get it to work (yes, I > have used the administrator account). > > I can't believe, that using NTFS file system in Microsoft Windows 2000 > or XP it is not possible to track file events as: > > - updating/modifying of an existing file/directory > - deleting an existing file/directory > - creating a new file/directory > - _moving_ an existing file/directory (should _NOT_ be covered by the > event duo of deleting an existing and creating a new file/directory) > > Any hints towards enlightenment? > > Claudio Grondi -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
