cksum entire dir??

[Robert Bonomi]

> Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2012 17:24:08 -0700
> From: Gary Kline <kline at thought.org>
> Subject: Re: cksum entire dir??
>
> On Wed, Sep 12, 2012 at 01:14:43AM +0200, Polytropon wrote:
> > On Tue, 11 Sep 2012 14:38:04 -0700, Gary Kline wrote:
> > > 
> > > I'm trying to checksum directories as I move them around.
> > > ive read the man page for sum and cksum ... or maybe skimmed 
> > > them.  no joy.  anybody know of a utility to do this?  I've 
> > > got files that are decades old... 
> > 
> > Maybe it's possible to tar the directory (without
> > compression of course) and obtain a checksum of
> > the tar archive?
> > 
> > 	% tar cf - <director> | cksum
> > 
> > But I also tried cksum directly with a directory
> > like
> > 
> > 	% cksum <directory>
> > 
> > and could obtain a checksum - so it _seems_ to work.
> > After alteration of one file within the hierarchy a
> > different result was printed.
> > 
> > Tested on OS version 8.2-STABLE/i386, one year old.
> > 
>
>
> 	I think I tried something like your second example last night.
> 	I think I did
>
> 	% cksum foodir/*
>
> 	and had to compare each file from another file I was copying from.
> 	it was tiresome to check each of dozens of files tho. I was here at 
> 	desk for something obscene -- over 12 hrs. getting my new [slightly
> 	used:)] computer back to normal.  

If you'd say _what_ you are trying to accomplish, as distinct from
_how_ you are attempting to do things,  people might be able to 
suggest a "sensible" answer.

Taking what you asked _literally_, 'tar . -cf - | cksum' answers the question.
Although 'find . -exec cat {} \; | cksum' may be closer.

However, if you just want to etablish that the contents of two directories
are identical, the 'diff -r -q {dir1} {dir2} might be appropriate.