Let’s say you can’t figure out where some enormous application hides its licensing information, what system files are getting altered by a third-party installer, or even just where some non-standard preferences are getting squirreled away. There are lots of ways to distribute settings to multiple machines, but far fewer to determine what those settings are and how they’re stored. What you need is a way to see what files system changes are taking place. The easiest way is with FSEventer from fernLighting.

Now FSEventer is not a polished tool. The interface is crude and unfinished in some places. The documentation is sketchy. Developer Robert Pointon’s focus isn’t “look and feel”, and it shows.

Instead, the focus is on power, and it doesn’t take long to recognize FSEventer’s enormous potential. Open the application, authorize root access, and hit the triangular “play” button. As you preform tasks on your machine, you’ll see each file that’s utilized drawn into an enormous tree. Temporary files, file locks, preferences, and more all appear in real time.

Once you’ve finished your work, hit the “pause” button, and you’ve charted all the activity that’s taken place. You can inspect file information, location, and even double-click to see them in the Finder. Want to filter your results? Click the funnel. Want to start over? Just click the broom. It’s a simple interface, but one that covers all the bases.

There are several command line utilities that do similar work to FSEventer, but having a graphical representation in this case makes your data much easier to work with. If you’re responsible for pushing out configurations across your network, or just need to quickly understand how something works on your machine, there aren’t many tools that are as useful or as convenient.

FSEventer is donationware.