Provided by: inotify-tools_3.14-1ubuntu1_amd64 bug

NAME

       inotifywatch - gather filesystem access statistics using inotify

SYNOPSIS

       inotifywatch  [-hvzrqf] [-e <event> ] [-t <seconds> ] [-a <event> ] [-d <event> ] <file> [
       ... ]

DESCRIPTION

       inotifywatch listens for  filesystem  events  using  Linux's  inotify(7)  interface,  then
       outputs a summary count of the events received on each file or directory.

OUTPUT

       inotifywatch  will  output  a table on standard out with one column for each type of event
       and one row for each watched file or directory.  The table will show the amount  of  times
       each  event  occurred  for  each  watched  file  or  directory.  Output can be sorted by a
       particular event using the -a or -d options.

       Some diagnostic information will be output on standard error.

OPTIONS

       -h, --help
              Output some helpful usage information.

       -v, --verbose
              Output some extra information on standard error during execution.

       @<file>
              When watching a directory tree recursively, exclude the specified file  from  being
              watched.   The file must be specified with a relative or absolute path according to
              whether a relative or absolute  path  is  given  for  watched  directories.   If  a
              specific path is explicitly both included and excluded, it will always be watched.

              Note:  If  you need to watch a directory or file whose name starts with @, give the
              absolute path.

       --fromfile <file>
              Read filenames to watch or  exclude  from  a  file,  one  filename  per  line.   If
              filenames  begin  with  @  they are excluded as described above.  If <file> is `-',
              filenames are read from standard input.  Use this option if you need to  watch  too
              many files to pass in as command line arguments.

       -z, --zero
              Output  table rows and columns even if all elements are zero.  By default, rows and
              columns are only output if they contain non-zero elements.  Using this option  when
              watching for every event on a lot of files can result in a lot of output!

       --exclude <pattern>
              Do  not  process  any  events  whose  filename matches the specified POSIX extended
              regular expression, case sensitive.

       --excludei <pattern>
              Do not process any events whose  filename  matches  the  specified  POSIX  extended
              regular expression, case insensitive.

       -r, --recursive
              Watch  all  subdirectories of any directories passed as arguments.  Watches will be
              set up recursively to an unlimited depth.  Symbolic links are  not  traversed.   If
              new  directories  are created within watched directories they will automatically be
              watched.

              Warning: If you use this option while watching the root directory of a large  tree,
              it  may  take  quite  a while until all inotify watches are established, and events
              will not be received  in  this  time.   Also,  since  one  inotify  watch  will  be
              established  per  subdirectory,  it  is possible that the maximum amount of inotify
              watches per user will be reached.  The default maximum is 8192; it can be increased
              by writing to /proc/sys/fs/inotify/max_user_watches.

       -t <seconds>, --timeout <seconds>
              Listen  only  for  the specified amount of seconds.  If not specified, inotifywatch
              will gather statistics  until  receiving  an  interrupt  signal  by  (for  example)
              pressing CONTROL-C at the console.

       -e <event>, --event <event>
              Listen for specific event(s) only.  The events which can be listened for are listed
              in the EVENTS section.  This option can be specified more than once.   If  omitted,
              all events are listened for.

       -a <event>, --ascending <event>
              Sort  output  ascending  by  event counts for the specified event.  Sortable events
              include `total' and all the events listed in the EVENTS section except  `move'  and
              `close'  (you  must  use `moved_to', `moved_from', `close_write' or `close_nowrite'
              instead).  The default is to sort descending by `total'.

       -d <event>, --descending <event>
              Sort output descending by event counts for the specified  event.   Sortable  events
              include  `total'  and all the events listed in the EVENTS section except `move' and
              `close' (you must use `moved_to', `moved_from',  `close_write'  or  `close_nowrite'
              instead).  The default is to sort descending by `total'.

EXIT STATUS

       0      The program executed successfully.

       1      An error occurred in execution of the program.

EVENTS

       The following events are valid for use with the -e option:

       access A watched file or a file within a watched directory was read from.

       modify A watched file or a file within a watched directory was written to.

       attrib The  metadata  of a watched file or a file within a watched directory was modified.
              This includes timestamps, file permissions, extended attributes etc.

       close_write
              A watched file or a file within a watched directory was closed, after being  opened
              in writeable mode.  This does not necessarily imply the file was written to.

       close_nowrite
              A  watched file or a file within a watched directory was closed, after being opened
              in read-only mode.

       close  A watched file or a file within a watched directory was closed, regardless  of  how
              it was opened.  Note that this is actually implemented simply by listening for both
              close_write and close_nowrite, hence all close events received will  be  output  as
              one of these, not CLOSE.

       open   A watched file or a file within a watched directory was opened.

       moved_to
              A  file or directory was moved into a watched directory.  This event occurs even if
              the file is simply moved from and to the same directory.

       moved_from
              A file or directory was moved from a watched directory.  This event occurs even  if
              the file is simply moved from and to the same directory.

       move   A  file  or  directory was moved from or to a watched directory.  Note that this is
              actually implemented simply by listening for both moved_to  and  moved_from,  hence
              all close events received will be output as one or both of these, not MOVE.

       move_self
              A  watched  file or directory was moved. After this event, the file or directory is
              no longer being watched.

       create A file or directory was created within a watched directory.

       delete A file or directory within a watched directory was deleted.

       delete_self
              A watched file or directory was deleted.  After this event the file or directory is
              no  longer  being  watched.   Note  that  this  event  can  occur even if it is not
              explicitly being listened for.

       unmount
              The filesystem on which a watched file or directory resides was  unmounted.   After
              this  event the file or directory is no longer being watched.  Note that this event
              can occur even if it is not explicitly being listened to.

EXAMPLE

       Watching the `~/.beagle' directory for 60 seconds:

       % inotifywatch -v -e access -e modify -t 60 -r ~/.beagle
       Establishing watches...
       Setting up watch(es) on /home/rohan/.beagle
       OK, /home/rohan/.beagle is now being watched.
       Total of 302 watches.
       Finished establishing watches, now collecting statistics.
       Will listen for events for 60 seconds.
       total  access  modify  filename
       1436   1074    362     /home/rohan/.beagle/Indexes/FileSystemIndex/PrimaryIndex/
       1323   1053    270     /home/rohan/.beagle/Indexes/FileSystemIndex/SecondaryIndex/
       303    116     187     /home/rohan/.beagle/Indexes/KMailIndex/PrimaryIndex/
       261    74      187     /home/rohan/.beagle/TextCache/
       206    0       206     /home/rohan/.beagle/Log/
       42     0       42      /home/rohan/.beagle/Indexes/FileSystemIndex/Locks/
       18     6       12      /home/rohan/.beagle/Indexes/FileSystemIndex/
       12     0       12      /home/rohan/.beagle/Indexes/KMailIndex/Locks/
       3      0       3       /home/rohan/.beagle/TextCache/54/
       3      0       3       /home/rohan/.beagle/TextCache/bc/
       3      0       3       /home/rohan/.beagle/TextCache/20/
       3      0       3       /home/rohan/.beagle/TextCache/62/
       2      2       0       /home/rohan/.beagle/Indexes/KMailIndex/SecondaryIndex/

CAVEATS

       When using inotifywatch, the filename that is outputted is not guaranteed to be up to date
       after  a  move  because it is the inode that is being monitored. Additionally, none of the
       observed operations are guaranteed to have been performed on the filename inotifywatch was
       instructed to monitor in cases when the file is known by several names in the filesystem.

BUGS

       There  are race conditions in the recursive directory watching code which can cause events
       to be missed if they occur in a directory immediately after  that  directory  is  created.
       This is probably not fixable.

       It is assumed the inotify event queue will never overflow.

AUTHORS

       inotifywatch is written by Rohan McGovern <rohan@mcgovern.id.au>.

       inotifywatch  is  part  of  inotify-tools.   The  inotify-tools  website  is  located  at:
       http://inotify-tools.sourceforge.net/

SEE ALSO

       inotifywait(1), inotify(7)