monrun (Monitor and Run) is as simple Python script to monitor a file for changes and execute a command each time the file is changed.
The single way to use is executing
$ python monrun.py -c <COMMAND> <FILE> [FILES]...
if you want that the command is once executed before start monitoring, use the
-b switch as followed.
$ python monrun.py -b -c <COMMAND> <FILE> [FILES]...
A -a switch is also available to override a previous -b or vice versa.
More parameters is available (soon displayed here).
Well, I couldn't find a program that do exactly what monrun do and I decided to write my own. Could be that this program exists and I was not able to find.
Normally all similar utilities only monitor for file modification time, while monrun do in the following way:
- Checks for difference in the modification time (mtime).
- If mtime is not equals, checks for difference in the file size.
- If file size is equals, is not a guarantee that the file is really modified, so monrun checks for difference calculating it checksum via md5.
And more, it's possible to raise the command if any of the files passed is modified.
- Add a switch to pass time between checks (currently the time is hardcoded in 1 second).
- Add -h|--help