I just wrote a little bash script, "ted" (for Tracking EDitor), which I am loving. You call ted
like you would call your usual text editor, and ted
backs up the file you're editing, appending the originial timestamp as a suffix. Then, when you're done editing the file, ted runs diff
to keep a running log of changes you've made to the file. If you've made no changes, ted
removes the backup file and exits without running diff
.
Introducing: ted.