How to signal an already running process whenever some file is renamed

1 pointdb424 comments

I am working on a project to manage files. The idea is to transfer information about a file's location through file name itself. So, whenever a user renames a file, the process will scan the filename and move it to the desired location. But I don't know how to signal the process whenever any file is renamed.

View on HN

Isn't this the kind of thing that FAM was invented for?

http://oss.sgi.com/projects/fam/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_alteration_monitor

(Or specific things like inotify on Linux: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inotify )

(as in your process monitors the directory itself and picks up the renames without having to be signalled by another process - although you could just give it a SIGHUP when another process using FAM/inotify notices the rename but why complexify things?)

But then, process will have to continuously keep a check on the directory. So, the time interval will need to be figured out for the process to wake up and check the directory for the renames.

It seems that inotify will be perfect for my requirement. Thanks a lot..

Reply on news.ycombinator.com