Anyone know of a quick and easy way to find the date of the newest file in a directory tree.  

I'm looking for a way to speed up synchronizing file caches between machines.  When you have 1m in files (that's a count, not a size), it takes quite a while to scan through the whole tree.  If we had a .oldest file in each branch, we could skip that branch if nothing had changed.  Then all we would need to do is scan the tree once to set these branch-stamps.  After that, all the cache machines would have to do is walk the tree looking for newer stamps.  
 
--- 
Wayne Johnson,                         | There are two kinds of people: Those 
3943 Penn Ave. N.          | who say to God, "Thy will be done," 
Minneapolis, MN 55412-1908 | and those to whom God says, "All right, 
(612) 522-7003                         | then,  have it your way." --C.S. Lewis





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