
WHAT IS INSTMON?

  instmon (INSTall MONitor) is a program that monitors the installation of
various programs and detects what files where installed. It can be very
helpful when you want to keep track of the files a 'make install' command
copied to your directory structure. instmon is meant mainly for system
administrators, but it can be useful to normal users as well.

REQUIREMENTS

  instmon is a shell script, so it needs a working version of /bin/sh. In
addition, it needs the following commands to be present:

  - ls
  - cp
  - mv
  - rm
  - mkdir
  - test/[ (probably internal to your shell)
  - printf
  - basename
  - cat
  - sort
  - tr
  - diff
  - find
  - egrep
  - sed
  - awk

  In addition, for building archives you need:

  - tar           (for tar archives)
  - dpkg,dpkg-deb (for deb archives)
  - rpm           (for rpm archives)

If you have a system with the GNU tools (Linux, GNU, FreeBSD etc.) like I
do, then you need:

  - GNU file/shell/text/diff/find utilities
  - GNU grep
  - GNU sed
  - GNU awk (or mawk)

Note that I have only tested instmon with the GNU tools, so on other systems
you might encounter problems using it. Please let me know if you do.

HOW TO COMPILE/INSTALL

  Since instmon is a shell script, you needn't compile it - it will simply
run everywhere. To install it, just type 'make install' as root. This will
copy the instmon executable in /usr/local/bin and the manual page in
/usr/local/man/man8. It will also create the directory
/usr/local/share/instmon, where instmon will be storing installation log
files.

  If you like, you could run 'make install-instmon' instead. This is the
same as 'make install', with the difference that instmon will monitor its
own installation, leaving in the end the file instlog.instmon-1.5 in
/usr/local/share/instmon.

HOW TO USE

  To monitor an installation, simply run "instmon <packagename>" before and
after it. <packagename> is optional (it defaults to the basename of the
current directory); it should be the name of the package you want to
install, and it should be identical for both invocations. It is recommended
that <packagename> has the form name-version. For more information, please
read the manual page.

TROUBLESHOOTING/FEEDBACK

  If you encounter any problems running instmon, you should contact me,
describing the nature of the problem. In addition, if you're not a Linux or
GNU user, I would appreciate it if you mailed me with a success story as well.

  And of course, I'm open to suggestions on the program, the manual page,
this file, the TODO list, or whatever you have in mind.



Enjoy using instmon!
Vasilis Vasaitis (vvas@hal.csd.auth.gr)
