diff --git a/scripts/updateModHistory.php b/scripts/updateModHistory.php
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ece548bd8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/updateModHistory.php
@@ -0,0 +1,219 @@
+<?php
+
+$commandLineOptions = getopt("", ["docs-path:", "history-path::"]);
+
+verifyCommandLineOptions($commandLineOptions);
+
+$documentationPath = realpath($commandLineOptions["docs-path"]);
+$modHistoryFile = realpath($commandLineOptions["history-path"]);
+
+$runningInGithubActions = (getenv("GITHUB_ACTIONS") !== false);
+
+$head = $runningInGithubActions ? "\$GITHUB_SHA" : "HEAD";
+
+$modHistoryArray = [];
+if (file_exists($modHistoryFile)) {
+ echo timeStamp() . " - Loading modification history file... ";
+ $modHistoryArray = include $modHistoryFile;
+ if (!is_array($modHistoryArray)) {
+ echo "file is corrupted (not an array)\n";
+ exit(1);
+ }
+ echo "done\n";
+} else {
+ echo timeStamp() . " - Modification history file doesn't exist\n";
+}
+
+echo timeStamp() . " - Switching to documentation directory... ";
+chdir($documentationPath);
+echo "done\n";
+
+if (isset($modHistoryArray["last commit hash"]) && $modHistoryArray["last commit hash"] !== "") {
+ echo timeStamp() . " - Found last commit hash: " . $modHistoryArray["last commit hash"] . "\n";
+ echo timeStamp() . " - Retrieving hash of the common ancestor of HEAD and the last commit... ";
+ $cmd = "git merge-base " . $modHistoryArray["last commit hash"] . " $head";
+ if (exec($cmd, $commonAncestor, $exitCode) === false
+ || $exitCode > 0) {
+ echo "failed\n";
+ exit(1);
+ }
+ $commonAncestorHash = implode("", $commonAncestor);
+ echo "done: ";
+} else {
+ echo timeStamp() . " - Last commit hash not found. Using empty git tree hash: ";
+ // since there is no modification history, generate it for all commits since the inital one
+ // 4b825dc642cb6eb9a060e54bf8d69288fbee4904 is the SHA1 of the empty git tree
+ $commonAncestorHash = "4b825dc642cb6eb9a060e54bf8d69288fbee4904";
+}
+echo $commonAncestorHash . "\n";
+
+echo timeStamp() . " - Retrieving number of files with a diff... ";
+$cmd = "git diff --name-only $commonAncestorHash $head | wc -l";
+if (exec($cmd, $numOfFilesWithDiff, $exitCode) === false
+ || $exitCode > 0) {
+ echo "failed\n";
+ exit(1);
+}
+$numOfFilesWithDiff = implode("", $numOfFilesWithDiff);
+echo "done (" . $numOfFilesWithDiff . ")\n";
+
+if ($numOfFilesWithDiff === "0") {
+ echo timeStamp() . " - No changes since last commit. Exiting...\n";
+ exit(0);
+}
+
+$modifiedFilescommand = <<<COMMAND
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+echo "last commit hash:"
+echo "$(git rev-parse $head)"
+git diff --name-only $commonAncestorHash $head | while read -r filename; do
+ echo "filename:"
+ echo "\$filename"
+ echo "modified:"
+ echo "$(git log -1 --format='%aI' -- \$filename)"
+ echo "contributors:"
+ git log --format='%an' -- \$filename|awk '!a[$0]++'
+done
+COMMAND;
+
+echo timeStamp() . " - Retrieving commit authors and last commit date/time of modified files... \n";
+
+$modifiedFiles = [];
+
+$proc = popen($modifiedFilescommand, 'rb');
+while (($line = fgets($proc)) !== false) {
+ processGitDiffLine(rtrim($line, "\n\r"), $modifiedFiles);
+ if (! $runningInGithubActions) {
+ $fileCounter = max(count($modifiedFiles) - 1, 0);
+ fwrite(
+ STDERR,
+ sprintf("\033[0G{$fileCounter} of {$numOfFilesWithDiff} files read...", "", "")
+ );
+ }
+}
+pclose($proc);
+
+echo " done\n";
+
+$s = ($modifiedFiles > 2) ? "s" : "";
+echo timeStamp() . " - Retrieved author$s and last commit date$s/time$s for " . (count($modifiedFiles) - 1) . " file$s\n";
+if (count($modifiedFiles) === 1) {
+ // there will always be at least 1 entry with the last commit hash
+ exit(1);
+}
+
+$mergedModHistory = array_merge($modHistoryArray, $modifiedFiles);
+
+echo timeStamp() . " - Writing modification history file... ";
+
+$fp = fopen($modHistoryFile, "w");
+fwrite($fp, "<?php\n\n/* This is a generated file */\n\nreturn [\n");
+foreach ($mergedModHistory as $fileName => $fileProps) {
+ if ($fileName === "last commit hash") {
+ fwrite($fp, " \"last commit hash\" => \"" . implode("", $fileProps) . "\",\n");
+ continue;
+ }
+ $newModHistoryString = ' "' . $fileName . "\" => [\n";
+ $newModHistoryString .= " \"modified\" => \"" . ($fileProps["modified"] ?? "") . "\",\n";
+ $newModHistoryString .= " \"contributors\" => [\n";
+ if (isset($fileProps["contributors"])) {
+ if (!is_array($fileProps["contributors"])) {
+ exit("Non-array contributors list\n");
+ }
+ foreach ($fileProps["contributors"] as $contributor) {
+ $newModHistoryString .= " \"" . $contributor . "\",\n";
+ }
+ }
+ $newModHistoryString .= " ],\n";
+ $newModHistoryString .= " ],\n";
+ fwrite($fp, $newModHistoryString);
+}
+fwrite($fp, "];\n");
+fclose($fp);
+
+echo "done at " . date('H:i:s') . "\n";
+
+function timeStamp(): string {
+ return "[" . date('H:i:s') . "]";
+}
+
+function processGitDiffLine($line, &$modifiedFiles): void {
+ static $currentType = "";
+ static $currentFile = "";
+
+ switch ($line) {
+ case "filename:":
+ $currentType = "filename";
+ return;
+ case "modified:":
+ $currentType = "modDateTime";
+ return;
+ case "contributors:":
+ $currentType = "contributors";
+ return;
+ case "last commit hash:":
+ $currentType = "commitHash";
+ return;
+ }
+ if ($currentType === "") {
+ return;
+ }
+
+ switch ($currentType) {
+ case "filename":
+ $currentFile = $line;
+ break;
+ case "modDateTime":
+ if ($currentFile === "") {
+ return;
+ }
+ $modifiedFiles[$currentFile]["modified"] = $line;
+ break;
+ case "contributors":
+ if ($currentFile === "") {
+ return;
+ }
+ $modifiedFiles[$currentFile]["contributors"][] = htmlspecialchars($line, ENT_QUOTES | ENT_SUBSTITUTE | ENT_HTML401);
+ break;
+ case "commitHash":
+ $modifiedFiles["last commit hash"][] = $line;
+ break;
+ }
+}
+
+function verifyCommandLineOptions($commandLineOptions): void {
+ $output = timeStamp() . " - Parsing command line arguments... ";
+ echo $output;
+ if ($commandLineOptions === false
+ || !isset($commandLineOptions["docs-path"])) {
+ echo "\"--docs-path\" is a required argument\n";
+ exit(1);
+ }
+ echo "documentation path supplied\n";
+ if (isset($commandLineOptions["history-path"])) {
+ printf("%*smod history file path supplied\n", strlen($output), " ");
+ }
+
+ $output = timeStamp() . " - Verifying command line arguments... ";
+ echo $output;
+ if (!file_exists($commandLineOptions["docs-path"])) {
+ echo "documentation path \"" . $commandLineOptions["docs-path"] . "\" doesn't exist\n";
+ exit(1);
+ } else if (!is_dir($commandLineOptions["docs-path"])) {
+ echo "documentation path \"" . $commandLineOptions["docs-path"] . "\" is not a directory\n";
+ exit(1);
+ }
+ echo "documentation path verified\n";
+
+ if (isset($commandLineOptions["history-path"])) {
+ printf("\n%*smod history file path ", strlen($output), " ");
+ if (!file_exists($commandLineOptions["history-path"])) {
+ echo "\"" . $commandLineOptions["history-path"] . "\" doesn't exist\n";
+ exit(1);
+ } else if (!is_file($commandLineOptions["history-path"])) {
+ echo "\"" . $commandLineOptions["history-path"] . "\" is not a file\n";
+ exit(1);
+ }
+ echo "verified\n";
+ }
+}