trusty (1) inotifywatch.1.gz

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)