cksum entire dir??

[Gary Kline]

On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 09:55:33PM -0500, Robert Bonomi wrote:
> 
> > 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.





	below, is what is easiest to script ... this was kevin's idea, simple
	and straight foreward.  the only trick is that in several cases I have
	to type [[ ot     alias ]] prefix strings like
	"/home/ethic/usr/home/kline" before I get into the breadth or depth of
	my directories ...

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