PathManifest is a utility that deposits a manifest of an application directory into its root, and allows you to build differential patches over time. As the tools can also print JSON-encoded data on their completion, they can be readily integrated from other tools/applications.

Example usage:

$ pm_write_manifest /application/root
$ pm_check_for_changes /application/root
New
---
new_directory/new_file2
new_file

Updated
-------
updated_file

$ pm_make_differential_patch /application/root 201507282031 /tmp
Created/Updated Files
---------------------

new_directory/new_file2
updated_file
new_file

Patch file-path:

/tmp/pm-patch-201507282031.tar.bz2

To apply the patch, simply expand. Note that this doesn’t support file removal but will in the future (still with a basic archive, but with the aid of an additional tool):

$ tar xjf /tmp/pm-patch-201507282031.tar.bz2 

Display applied patches:

$ pm_show_applied_patches /application/root
Applied Patches
---------------

201507282031

Affected Files
--------------

new_directory/new_file2
updated_file
new_file