What is FS inotify?

What is FS inotify?

The inotify API provides a mechanism for monitoring filesystem events. Inotify can be used to monitor individual files, or to monitor directories. * inotify_add_watch(2) manipulates the “watch list” associated with an inotify instance.

What is Inotify in Linux?

inotify (inode notify) is a Linux kernel subsystem created by John McCutchan, which monitors changes to the filesystem, and reports those changes to applications. It can be used to automatically update directory views, reload configuration files, log changes, backup, synchronize, and upload.

What is inotify limit?

Inotify commonly limits the max watch value to 8192.

What is inotify in Linux?

DESCRIPTION top The inotify API provides a mechanism for monitoring filesystem events. Inotify can be used to monitor individual files, or to monitor directories. When a directory is monitored, inotify will return events for the directory itself, and for files inside the directory.

How does inotify work with directory monitoring?

When a directory is monitored, inotify will return events for the directory itself, and for files inside the directory. The following system calls are used with this API: * inotify_init (2) creates an inotify instance and returns a file descriptor referring to the inotify instance.

How does the inotify API identify events?

The inotify API identifies events via watch descriptors. It is the application’s responsibility to cache a mapping (if one is needed) between watch descriptors and pathnames. Be aware that directory renamings may affect multiple cached pathnames.

How to monitor inotify file descriptors in Linux?

The inotify API is Linux-specific. Inotify file descriptors can be monitored using select (2) , poll (2), and epoll (7). When an event is available, the file descriptor indicates as readable.