однако, я скучал... что-то как:
#!/bin/sh
SUBJECT="blah is more than 5 minutes old!"
EMAIL="email@example.com"
MSG="/tmp/emailmessage"
MOD=`stat --printf=%Y $1`
NOW=`date +%s`
DIFF=$(($NOW-$MOD))
if [ $DIFF > 300 ]; then
echo "$1 is more than 5 minutes old!" > $MSG
mail -s "$SUBJECT" "$EMAIL" < $MSG
fi