cmpcat - Directory Hierarchy Comparison and Merging Tool

cmpcat is a command-line utility for comparing two directory hierarchies and optionally merging them into a new structure. It efficiently compares differences in files, directories, and links between two specified directories, highlighting the distinctions and handling file types and links in a memory-efficient manner. The merging function can also consolidate these differences into a new directory without redundancy.

Features

Compare Directory Hierarchies: Identifies differences in files, directories, and links between two directories.
Merge Directories: Combines two directory structures into a new directory while maintaining unique entries and eliminating duplicates.
Efficient Memory Management: Ensures zero memory leaks or errors. Supports Valgrind testing for memory integrity.
Hardlink and Symlink Handling: Manages hardlinks and symlinks with a custom AVL tree for efficient hardlink referencing.

Compilation

The project includes a Makefile to simplify compilation:

make            # Compiles the project
make clean      # Removes compiled files
make count      # Counts source lines of code

Execution

Use the following command-line options:

Compare Directories:

./cmpcat -d pathTo/dirA pathTo/dirB

Merge Directories (optional -s flag to specify output directory):

./cmpcat -d pathTo/dirA pathTo/dirB -s pathTo/output

Both relative and absolute paths are supported, and all paths must end with a /.

Test Cases

A compressed test file datatar.tar is included, containing various scenarios to validate the tool’s functionality. Untar it using:

tar xf datatar.tar

File Structure

src/: Source files.
include/: Header files.
build/: Generated object files.
datatar.tar: Test directories for verifying the program's functionality.

University Project

This project was developed as part of the Operating Systems course (course professor: Alex Delis) at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA). It fulfills the assignment requirements for Programming Assignment #4 and demonstrates concepts related to file management, memory optimization, and system calls in a Unix-like environment. The project received a grade of 100/100 and excellent comments.

MikeRaphK/cmpcat