Capturing all the data that has changed during a Linux install

Question

I am trying to figure out which files were changed when I run an app install via make install. I can look at the script, but that calls other scripts and may or may not touch other files, etc. How can I do this programmatically?

Answer 1

Implementation: http://asic-linux.com.mx/~izto/checkinstall/

Several ways come to mind. First, use some sort of LD_PRELOAD to track all files opened. Second approach, compare filesystem before and after.

Answer 2

If your kernel supports it, you can use inotify (a handy interface is inotify tools) and watch your home directory, if the package was configured with --prefix=/home/myusername

I've noticed that checkinstall (using installwatch via LD_PRELOAD) does not always catch everything, the last time I used it it did not catch empty directories that were created for spooling, which caused the subsequent generated .deb's to break.

Note, don't use inotify if you are installing to /, in that case you have to use installwatch or just read all of the makefiles / install scripts closely.