--- a/cutils/treesum.py	Fri Jan 03 17:16:05 2025 +0100
+++ b/cutils/treesum.py	Fri Jan 03 23:08:02 2025 +0100
@@ -70,6 +70,10 @@
                  " Note that this is a different setting as to follow symbolic"
                  " links to directories when traversing a directory tree.")
         gp.add_argument(
+            "--minimal", nargs="?", const="", default=None, metavar="TAG",
+            help="Produce minimal output only. If a TAG is given and not "
+                 "empty use it as the leading \"ROOT (<TAG>)\" output.")
+        gp.add_argument(
             "--mmap", action="store_true", dest="mmap", default=None,
             help="Use mmap if available. Default is to determine "
                  "automatically from the filesize.")
@@ -178,6 +182,7 @@
                       comment=[],
                       follow_directory_symlinks=False,
                       logical=None,
+                      minimal=None,
                       mmap=None,
                       output=None):
     opts = argparse.Namespace(
@@ -189,6 +194,7 @@
         comment=comment,
         follow_directory_symlinks=follow_directory_symlinks,
         logical=logical,
+        minimal=minimal,
         mmap=mmap,
         output=output)
     return opts
@@ -226,12 +232,13 @@
             generate_treesum_for_directory(
                 outfp, d, opts.algorithm, opts.mmap, opts.base64, opts.logical,
                 opts.follow_directory_symlinks,
+                minimal=opts.minimal,
                 comment=opts.comment)
 
 
 def generate_treesum_for_directory(
         outfp, root, algorithm, use_mmap, use_base64, handle_root_logical,
-        follow_directory_symlinks, comment=None):
+        follow_directory_symlinks, minimal=None, comment=None):
     """
 
     :param outfp: a *binary* file with a "write()" and a "flush()" method
@@ -250,17 +257,24 @@
         outfp.write(format_bsd_line("FLAGS", ",".join(flags), None, False))
         outfp.flush()
 
-    # Write execution timestamps in POSIX epoch and ISO format
-    ts = time.time()
-    outfp.write(format_bsd_line("TIMESTAMP", ts, None, False))
-    ts = (datetime.datetime.utcfromtimestamp(ts)).isoformat("T")
-    outfp.write(format_bsd_line("ISOTIMESTAMP", ts, None, False))
-    outfp.flush()
+    if minimal is None:
+        # Write execution timestamps in POSIX epoch and ISO format
+        ts = time.time()
+        outfp.write(format_bsd_line("TIMESTAMP", ts, None, False))
+        ts = (datetime.datetime.utcfromtimestamp(ts)).isoformat("T")
+        outfp.write(format_bsd_line("ISOTIMESTAMP", ts, None, False))
+        outfp.flush()
 
-    if comment:
-        for line in comment:
-            outfp.write(format_bsd_line("COMMENT", None, line, False))
-    outfp.write(format_bsd_line("ROOT", None, root, False))
+        if comment:
+            for line in comment:
+                outfp.write(format_bsd_line("COMMENT", None, line, False))
+
+    if minimal is not None:
+        outfp.write(
+            format_bsd_line(
+                "ROOT", None, minimal if minimal else "", False))
+    else:
+        outfp.write(format_bsd_line("ROOT", None, root, False))
     outfp.flush()
 
     dir_digests = {}