File system object manipulation (learner)

[Scott Finnie]

Hi,

I'm looking to write some fairly noddy tools for synchronising files
between two systems - as much as a learning exercise as anything else.

The Python core libs support file operations, but they deal with file
contents; I need a higher level than that, and don't want to write a
file copy in Python (too slow).  Shopping list as follows:

. list files in directory (ideally recursively)
. copy file from one location to another
. get file stats (date, time, size, - os.* call for this exists I think)
. compare contents (e.g. generate MD5 checksums and compare?)
. create/explode archives using standard formats (e.g. tar, (g)zip)
. compress/uncompress files (would be nice).

I'm a bit unsure where best to turn for available modules: goals are
ideally cross platform (win32+unix) although win32 is most important.

Thanks for any pointers,
Scott.