LowTree

A lightning-fast, lightweight directory scanner built in pure C for Windows.

LowTree analyzes your storage using the native Win32 API, providing a clean, terminal-based summary of folder sizes and file counts. It is designed to be highly efficient, bypassing common system pitfalls like symbolic link loops and minimizing unnecessary overhead.

Features

• Native Performance: Built with C11 and the Win32 API for maximum speed and minimal memory footprint.
• Clean CLI: Simple command-line interface with support for specific target paths, help menus, and versioning.
• Accurate Sizing: Recursively calculates true folder sizes (dynamically formatting to MB or GB) and total file counts.
• Safe Traversal: Automatically ignores Junction Points and System Symlinks to prevent infinite scanning loops.
• Unicode Support: Fully handles wide characters (wchar_t) to correctly process complex Windows paths.

Prerequisites

To compile LowTree, you need a modern C toolchain for Windows. The recommended setup uses MSYS2 with the UCRT64 environment.

Ensure you have the following packages installed in your MSYS2 terminal:

pacman -S mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-gcc mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-cmake mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-ninja

Building the Project

1. Open your UCRT64 terminal and navigate to the project directory:

   cd path/to/LowTree

2. Create a build directory and enter it:

   mkdir build && cd build

3. Generate the build files using CMake and Ninja:

   cmake -G Ninja ..

4. Compile the executable:

   ninja

Usage

Run the compiled executable from your terminal. If no path is provided, LowTree defaults to scanning the C:\ root directory.

Scan the default drive:

.\LowTree.exe

Scan a specific directory: (Note: Always use quotes if your target path contains spaces).

.\LowTree.exe "C:\Users\YourUser\Desktop"
.\LowTree.exe "D:\Projects"

CLI Options:

• -h, --help : Show the help message and usage examples.
• -v, --version : Display the current software version.

Project Structure

LowTree is designed to be modular and easily extensible:

• src/main.c: CLI argument parsing and main entry point.
• src/lowtree.c: Core scanning engine using FindFirstFileW and recursive traversal logic.
• include/lowtree.h: Public API declarations.
• CMakeLists.txt: Build configuration.