COMP 10024 – Assignment ~ The Automated System Administrator (Week 8)

Total Weight: 3 Points
Objective: Create a robust Bash script that handles user input, validates the file system, and utilizes loops and conditional logic to automate a common administrative task.

The Scenario

You have been hired as a Junior SysAdmin. Your first task is to create a tool called inspector.sh. This tool needs to look at a directory provided by the user and give a “status report” on the files inside. If the user doesn’t provide a directory, the script should be smart enough to ask for one.

Requirements (The Rubric)

Part 1: The Setup & Validation (1 Point)

• Your script must start with the correct sh’bang for the Bash interpreter.
• Include a header comment with your name and the date.
• Logic: Check if a command-line argument was provided ($1).
  • If no argument was provided, use read to ask the user for a directory path.
  • If the path provided (either via argument or read) is not a directory, print an error message and exit 1.

Part 2: The Inspection Loop (1 Point)

• Once you have a valid directory, use a for loop to iterate through every item inside that directory.
• For each item, use an if/elif structure to identify if the item is:
  • A Regular File (Test with -f)
  • A Sub-directory (Test with -d)
• Print the name of the item and its type to the screen.

Part 3: The Summary & Exit (1 Point)

• Keep a running count of how many files and how many directories were found.
• After the loop finished, print a summary: “Inspection Complete: Found X files and Y directories.”
• Exit the script successfully with exit 0.

Submission Instructions

Before submitting, you must ensure your script is actually “runnable” by the grader:

1. Set the permissions using chmod 755 inspector.sh.
2. Test it by running ./inspector.sh /etc (or any directory you have access to).
3. Verify the exit code by running echo $? immediately after your script finishes.

Starter Template

If you’re stuck, use this as your skeleton:

#!/bin/bash
# Name: [Your Name]
# Date: [Today's Date]

# 1. Capture the directory
DIR=$1

# 2. Check if DIR is empty, if so, read input
if [ -z "$DIR" ]; then
    echo -n "Please enter a directory path: "
    read DIR
fi

# 3. Check if it's a valid directory
if [ ! -d "$DIR" ]; then
    echo "Error: $DIR is not a directory."
    exit 1
fi

# ... Your loop and logic goes here ...

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