metastore is a tool to store the metadata of files/directories/links in a file tree to a separate file and to later compare and apply the stored metadata to said file tree.

It was written as a supplement to git which does not store all metadata, making it unsuitable for e.g. storing /etc in a repository.

metastore can also be helpful if you want to create a tarball of a file tree and make sure that "everything" (e.g. xattrs, mtime, owner, group) is stored along with the files.