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Directory Tree Differ (DT)

by Ron Dilley ron.dilley@uberadmin.com

For the latest information on dt, please see: http://www.uberadmin.com/Projects/difftree/

What is dt?

dt is short for difftree and it is a fast directory comparison tool.

Why use it?

I build dt during a security incident to compare directory snapshots on a large SAN. I attempted to use both tripwire and osiris and neither could complete the comparison of directories in a reasonable amount of time. This tool sacrifices absolute comparisons using hashing and databases for speed and a minimal set of comparisons of data available from fstat.

Not to mention, it's fast. The following runs are against four copies of my project directories with 2,994 files totalling 2.8Gb of data.

As a baseline, here is how long it takes find to process the first of the four copies of the directory tree:

% time find ~/cvs > /dev/null

real    0m0.011s
user    0m0.003s
sys     0m0.007s

A quick scan of all my project directories with comparisons across four versions:

% time ./src/dt -q ~/cvs ~/c1 ~/c2 ~/c3 > /dev/null

real    0m0.058s
user    0m0.031s
sys     0m0.019s

A standard scan of all my project directories with comparisons across four versions:

% time ./src/dt ~/cvs ~/c1 ~/c2 ~/c3 > /dev/null

real    0m0.085s
user    0m0.035s
sys     0m0.039s

A full scan with md5 hashing of all my project directories with comparisons across four versions:

% time ./src/dt -m ~/cvs ~/c1 ~/c2 ~/c3 > /dev/null

real    1m28.804s
user    0m5.043s
sys     0m34.487s

Implementation

The output from dt describes all the detected differences found:

Interpreting difftree output

Any changes are noted as {type}[{old}->{new}] and a file can have multiple changes.

The change types are as follows:

symbol meaning
+ New file
- Missing file
s Size changed
u UID changed
g GID changed
p Permissions changed
mt Modify time changed
at Access time changed
ct Create time changed (disabled)
md5 File hash has changed
sha256 File hash has changed

The second column is the file type:

symbol meaning
f File
d Directory
sl Soft Link
blk Block device
fifo FIFO
chr Character device
sok Socket

The third column is the fully qualified filename.

difftree examples

Here is an example of running dt against a set of directories. Each directory passed to dt will be compared to the previous argument. This allows a quick comparison between each directory to get a summary of the changes over time.

% ./dt ~/cvs ~/c1 ~/c2 ~/c3

Processing dir [/home/rdilley/cvs]
Processing dir [/home/rdilley/c1]
mt[2011/07/11@00:32:31->2011/07/10@20:10:05] d [/home/rdilley/c1/difftree]
mt[2011/07/10@23:52:12->2011/07/10@15:06:10] d [/home/rdilley/c1/difftree/CVS]
s[457->435] f [/home/rdilley/c1/difftree/CVS/Entries]
+ f [/difftree/CVS/Entries.Log]
mt[2011/07/11@01:07:39->2011/07/10@21:53:23] d [/home/rdilley/c1/difftree/src]
md5[e00bcf99c5b7116dc1cdcc275cfd02e8->5fee2a5fbdacebd80ff7b048cf4b2806] f [/home/rdilley/c1/difftree/version.sh]
g[100>1000] d [/home/rdilley/c1/pdnsd]
p[rwxr-xr-x->rwxr-x---] d [/home/rdilley/c1/imspy]
- f [/bc.tar.gz]
- f [/difftree/configure.scan]
- f [/difftree/autoscan.log]
Processing dir [/home/rdilley/c2]
s[686328114->0] f [/home/rdilley/c2/dictionary.txt]
g[1000>100] f [/home/rdilley/c2/difftree/src/hash.c]
g[1000>100] d [/home/rdilley/c2/pdnsd]
g[100>1000] p[rwxr-xr-x->rwxr-sr-x] d [/home/rdilley/c2/quickparser]
p[rwxr-x---->rwxr-xr-x] d [/home/rdilley/c2/imspy]
+ f [/bc.tar.gz]
mt[2007/08/22@22:34:40->2011/07/11@01:08:34] f [/home/rdilley/c2/wsd-0.1.config]
Processing dir [/home/rdilley/c3]
g[1000>100] p[rwxr-sr-x->rwxr-xr-x] d [/home/rdilley/c3/quickparser]
+ f [/psmd.config.orig]
s[654->16] t[f->sl] p[rwxr-xr-x->rwxrwxrwx] sl [/home/rdilley/c3/psmd.config]
mt[2011/07/11@01:08:34->2007/08/22@22:34:40] f [/home/rdilley/c3/wsd-0.1.config]
- f [/dictionary.txt]

Here is an example of running dt against a directory tree and saving the data:

% ./dt -m -w cvs_dir.txt ~/cvs

Processing dir [/home/rdilley/cvs]

You can then use the file as one of the directory arguments to compare an existing directory to the one previously saves with the '-w' option.

% ./dt -m cvs_dir.txt ~/cvs

Processing file [cvs_dir.txt]
Read [3006] and loaded [3005] lines from file [/home/rdilley/cvs] dated [2011/07/24@18:51:16]
Processing dir [/home/rdilley/cvs]
mt[2011/07/24@18:40:38->2011/07/24@18:51:45] d [/home/rdilley/cvs/difftree]
s[20480->24576] mt[2011/07/24@18:50:07->2011/07/24@18:52:02] f [/home/rdilley/cvs/difftree/.README.swp]
+ f [/difftree/cvs_dir.txt]

You can combine comparing a file to the current directory and writing a new file into a single run:

% ./dt -m -w cvs_dir_new.txt cvs_dir.txt ~/cvs

Processing file [cvs_dir.txt]
Read [3006] and loaded [3005] lines from file [/home/rdilley/cvs] dated [2011/07/24@18:51:16]
Processing dir [/home/rdilley/cvs]
mt[2011/07/24@18:40:38->2011/07/24@18:51:45] d [/home/rdilley/cvs/difftree]
s[20480->24576] mt[2011/07/24@18:50:07->2011/07/24@18:53:05] f [/home/rdilley/cvs/difftree/.README.swp]
+ f [/difftree/cvs_dir.txt]

You can then compare just the two files:

% ./dt -m cvs_dir.txt cvs_dir_new.txt
 
Processing file [cvs_dir.txt]
Read [3006] and loaded [3005] lines from file [/home/rdilley/cvs] dated [2011/07/24@18:51:16]
Processing file [cvs_dir_new.txt]
+ f [/difftree/cvs_dir.txt]
mt[2011/07/24@18:40:38->2011/07/24@18:51:45] d [/home/rdilley/cvs/difftree]
s[20480->24576] mt[2011/07/24@18:50:07->2011/07/24@18:53:05] f [/home/rdilley/cvs/difftree/.README.swp]
Read [3007] and loaded [3006] lines from file [/home/rdilley/cvs] dated [2011/07/24@18:53:36]

To monitor a directory tree over time, you can run this tool once a week/day/hour and store the files so that you can compare an arbitrary point in the in the past to the current directory tree, or any other point that you have stored.

% ./dt -m -w cvs_dir.`date '+%Y%m%d%H%M%S'`.txt ~/cvs

If you want a quick way to monitor changes to your UNIX system over time, you can run the following script from cron once per day:

#!/bin/sh
#
# desc: use to keep track of filesystem changes
#
#####

TIME=`date '+%Y%m%d%H%M%S'`
DT_ARGS="-m -p" # md5 hash files and preserve access time
DT_EXCLUSIONS="-e /proc -e /run -e /sys -e /snap -e /home -e /var/log"
DT_DIR="/root/dt"
DT_COMMAND="/usr/local/bin/dt"
MAILTO="root"

if [ -f "${DT_DIR}/root_dir.current" ]; then
 # compare to last run
 ${DT_COMMAND} ${DT_ARGS} ${DT_EXCLUSIONS} -w ${DT_DIR}/root_dir.${TIME}.dt ${DT_DIR}/root_dir.current / | mailx -s DT_Delta ${MAILTO}
 # create link
 ln -f -s ${DT_DIR}/root_dir.${TIME}.dt ${DT_DIR}/root_dir.current
else
 # first run, no compare this time
 ${DT_COMMAND} ${DT_ARGS} ${DT_EXCLUSIONS} -w ${DT_DIR}/root_dir.${TIME}.dt /
 # create link
 ln -s ${DT_DIR}/root_dir.${TIME}.dt ${DT_DIR}/root_dir.current
fi

# done
exit

The output sent to the root user's e-mail address can look something like this:

Processing file [/root/dt/root_dir.current]
Read [301847] and loaded [301847] lines from file about [/] dated [2022/03/11@10:10:32]
Processing dir [/]
mt[2022/03/11@10:10:32->2022/03/11@10:14:23] d [/tmp]
md5[55bab7730bbefcdd39c5cbdc2d0d2ef3->088617c72b9ad708c2112aa886950864] f [/swapfile]
mt[2022/03/11@00:36:27->2022/03/11@10:14:20] d [/usr/local/bin]
s[412424->372528] mt[2022/03/11@00:36:27->2022/03/11@10:14:20] f [/usr/local/bin/dt]
mt[2022/03/11@00:36:27->2022/03/11@10:14:20] d [/usr/local/share/man/man1]
mt[2022/03/11@00:36:27->2022/03/11@10:14:20] f [/usr/local/share/man/man1/dt.1]
md5[7c922ffc3587b5683e9d2093ba8fa7a9->e02bcdaac5a73fa7235180cae7362adf] mt[2022/03/11@10:10:32->2022/03/11@10:14:23] f [/var/lib/fail2ban/fail2ban.sqlite3]
mt[2022/03/11@10:07:50->2022/03/11@10:12:50] d [/var/lib/NetworkManager]
md5[44c64a176f02f53aada6312aec6e08d1->75e80cb0b88aa8ec115a3b0d4af64175] mt[2022/03/11@10:07:50->2022/03/11@10:12:50] f [/var/lib/NetworkManager/timestamps]
mt[2022/03/11@07:35:48->2022/03/11@10:13:15] d [/var/spool/postfix/active]
mt[2022/03/11@07:35:47->2022/03/11@10:13:15] d [/var/spool/postfix/maildrop]
mt[2022/03/11@07:35:47->2022/03/11@10:13:15] d [/var/spool/postfix/incoming]
mt[2022/03/11@07:35:48->2022/03/11@10:13:15] d [/var/mail]
s[2422->7676] mt[2022/03/11@07:35:48->2022/03/11@10:13:15] f [/var/mail/rdilley]
mt[2022/03/11@10:12:16->2022/03/11@10:13:53] d [/dev/shm]
mt[2022/03/11@10:12:08->2022/03/11@10:15:46] chr [/dev/pts/2]
mt[2022/03/11@10:10:32->2022/03/11@10:14:16] chr [/dev/pts/0]
mt[2022/03/11@10:10:32->2022/03/11@10:14:16] chr [/dev/ptmx]
mt[2022/03/11@01:16:39->2022/03/11@10:13:15] d [/root/dt]
mt[2022/03/11@01:16:39->2022/03/11@10:13:15] sl [/root/dt/root_dir.current]
+ f [root/dt/root_dir.20220311101032.dt]

dt comes with a minimal set of options as follows:

% dt --help
dt v1.0.1 [Mar 10 2022 - 18:12:06]

syntax: difftree [options] {dir}|{file} [{dir} ...]
 -a|--atime           show last access time changes (enables -p|--preserve)
 -c|--count           count file lines and bytes (disables hash modes)
 -d|--debug (0-9)     enable debugging info
 -e|--exdir {dir}     exclude {dir}
 -E|--exfile {file}   exclude directories listed in {file}
 -h|--help            this info
 -m|--md5             MD5 hash files and compare (disables -q|--quick and -s|--sha256 modes)
 -p|--preserve        preserve ATIME when hashing files (must have appropriate privileges)
 -q|--quick           do quick comparisons only
 -s|--sha256          SHA256 hash files and compare (disables -q|--quick and -m|--md5 modes)
 -v|--version         display version information
 -w|--write {file}    write directory tree to file

The -a|--atime option reports on any change to the last access times. This option enables the -p|--preserve option.

The -e|--exdir and -E|--exfile options allow you to exclude directories.

The exclusion file is a delimited list of directories:

% cat etc/exclusions.txt 
/proc
/run

The -p|--preserve option attempts to preserve the last access time when files are hashed. This only works if you have sufficient privileges to change atime and mtime.

The -q option detects new and missing files and changes in file size. This disables -m|--md5 and -s|--sha256 mode.

The -m|--md5 and -s|--sha256 options enable file hashing, these are mutually exclusive and either option disables -q|--quick mode.

The -d option is only useful if dt is compiled with --enable-debug.

Compatibility

I have built and tested dt on the following operating systems:

  • Linux (RHEL v8.4 [64bit]/CentOS v7.0 [32/64bit])
  • Linux (Ubuntu v18.04.x/20.04.x [64bit])
  • openBSD (v5.7 [i386]/v7.0 [64bit])
  • FreeBSD (v13 [64bit])
  • debian (v11.2 [64bit])
  • Mac OS/X (Mavericks/Yosemite)
  • Cygwin

I have confirmed that dt does not compile or run on the following:

  • MinGW [missing nftw() and bzero()]

Security Implications

Assume that there are errors in the dt source that would allow an attacker to gain unauthorized access to your computer. Don't trust this software and install and use it at your own risk.

Bugs

I am not a programmer by any stretch of the imagination. I have attempted to remove the obvious bugs and other programmer related errors but please keep in mind the first sentence. If you find an issue with code, please send me an e-mail with details and I will be happy to look into it.

Ron Dilley ron.dilley@uberadmin.com

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Show differences between directory trees

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