- inotify
- a powerful yet simple file change notification system
+ inotify
+ a powerful yet simple file change notification system
Document started 15 Mar 2005 by Robert Love <rml@novell.com>
+
(i) User Interface
-Inotify is controlled by a set of three sys calls
+Inotify is controlled by a set of three system calls and normal file I/O on a
+returned file descriptor.
-First step in using inotify is to initialise an inotify instance
+First step in using inotify is to initialise an inotify instance:
int fd = inotify_init ();
+Each instance is associated with a unique, ordered queue.
+
Change events are managed by "watches". A watch is an (object,mask) pair where
the object is a file or directory and the mask is a bit mask of one or more
inotify events that the application wishes to receive. See <linux/inotify.h>
Watches on a directory will return events on any files inside of the directory.
-Adding a watch is simple,
+Adding a watch is simple:
int wd = inotify_add_watch (fd, path, mask);
-You can add a large number of files via something like
-
- for each file to watch {
- int wd = inotify_add_watch (fd, file, mask);
- }
+Where "fd" is the return value from inotify_init(), path is the path to the
+object to watch, and mask is the watch mask (see <linux/inotify.h>).
You can update an existing watch in the same manner, by passing in a new mask.
-An existing watch is removed via the INOTIFY_IGNORE ioctl, for example
+An existing watch is removed via
- inotify_rm_watch (fd, wd);
+ int ret = inotify_rm_watch (fd, wd);
Events are provided in the form of an inotify_event structure that is read(2)
-from a inotify instance fd. The filename is of dynamic length and follows the
-struct. It is of size len. The filename is padded with null bytes to ensure
-proper alignment. This padding is reflected in len.
+from a given inotify instance. The filename is of dynamic length and follows
+the struct. It is of size len. The filename is padded with null bytes to
+ensure proper alignment. This padding is reflected in len.
You can slurp multiple events by passing a large buffer, for example
size_t len = read (fd, buf, BUF_LEN);
-Will return as many events as are available and fit in BUF_LEN.
+Where "buf" is a pointer to an array of "inotify_event" structures at least
+BUF_LEN bytes in size. The above example will return as many events as are
+available and fit in BUF_LEN.
-each inotify instance fd is also select()- and poll()-able.
+Each inotify instance fd is also select()- and poll()-able.
-You can find the size of the current event queue via the FIONREAD ioctl.
+You can find the size of the current event queue via the standard FIONREAD
+ioctl on the fd returned by inotify_init().
All watches are destroyed and cleaned up on close.
-(ii) Internal Kernel Implementation
+(ii)
+
+Prototypes:
+
+ int inotify_init (void);
+ int inotify_add_watch (int fd, const char *path, __u32 mask);
+ int inotify_rm_watch (int fd, __u32 mask);
+
+
+(iii) Kernel Interface
+
+Inotify's kernel API consists a set of functions for managing watches and an
+event callback.
+
+To use the kernel API, you must first initialize an inotify instance with a set
+of inotify_operations. You are given an opaque inotify_handle, which you use
+for any further calls to inotify.
+
+ struct inotify_handle *ih = inotify_init(my_event_handler);
+
+You must provide a function for processing events and a function for destroying
+the inotify watch.
+
+ void handle_event(struct inotify_watch *watch, u32 wd, u32 mask,
+ u32 cookie, const char *name, struct inode *inode)
+
+ watch - the pointer to the inotify_watch that triggered this call
+ wd - the watch descriptor
+ mask - describes the event that occurred
+ cookie - an identifier for synchronizing events
+ name - the dentry name for affected files in a directory-based event
+ inode - the affected inode in a directory-based event
+
+ void destroy_watch(struct inotify_watch *watch)
+
+You may add watches by providing a pre-allocated and initialized inotify_watch
+structure and specifying the inode to watch along with an inotify event mask.
+You must pin the inode during the call. You will likely wish to embed the
+inotify_watch structure in a structure of your own which contains other
+information about the watch. Once you add an inotify watch, it is immediately
+subject to removal depending on filesystem events. You must grab a reference if
+you depend on the watch hanging around after the call.
+
+ inotify_init_watch(&my_watch->iwatch);
+ inotify_get_watch(&my_watch->iwatch); // optional
+ s32 wd = inotify_add_watch(ih, &my_watch->iwatch, inode, mask);
+ inotify_put_watch(&my_watch->iwatch); // optional
+
+You may use the watch descriptor (wd) or the address of the inotify_watch for
+other inotify operations. You must not directly read or manipulate data in the
+inotify_watch. Additionally, you must not call inotify_add_watch() more than
+once for a given inotify_watch structure, unless you have first called either
+inotify_rm_watch() or inotify_rm_wd().
+
+To determine if you have already registered a watch for a given inode, you may
+call inotify_find_watch(), which gives you both the wd and the watch pointer for
+the inotify_watch, or an error if the watch does not exist.
+
+ wd = inotify_find_watch(ih, inode, &watchp);
+
+You may use container_of() on the watch pointer to access your own data
+associated with a given watch. When an existing watch is found,
+inotify_find_watch() bumps the refcount before releasing its locks. You must
+put that reference with:
+
+ put_inotify_watch(watchp);
+
+Call inotify_find_update_watch() to update the event mask for an existing watch.
+inotify_find_update_watch() returns the wd of the updated watch, or an error if
+the watch does not exist.
+
+ wd = inotify_find_update_watch(ih, inode, mask);
+
+An existing watch may be removed by calling either inotify_rm_watch() or
+inotify_rm_wd().
-Each open inotify instance is associated with an inotify_device structure.
+ int ret = inotify_rm_watch(ih, &my_watch->iwatch);
+ int ret = inotify_rm_wd(ih, wd);
+
+A watch may be removed while executing your event handler with the following:
+
+ inotify_remove_watch_locked(ih, iwatch);
+
+Call inotify_destroy() to remove all watches from your inotify instance and
+release it. If there are no outstanding references, inotify_destroy() will call
+your destroy_watch op for each watch.
+
+ inotify_destroy(ih);
+
+When inotify removes a watch, it sends an IN_IGNORED event to your callback.
+You may use this event as an indication to free the watch memory. Note that
+inotify may remove a watch due to filesystem events, as well as by your request.
+If you use IN_ONESHOT, inotify will remove the watch after the first event, at
+which point you may call the final inotify_put_watch.
+
+(iv) Kernel Interface Prototypes
+
+ struct inotify_handle *inotify_init(struct inotify_operations *ops);
+
+ inotify_init_watch(struct inotify_watch *watch);
+
+ s32 inotify_add_watch(struct inotify_handle *ih,
+ struct inotify_watch *watch,
+ struct inode *inode, u32 mask);
+
+ s32 inotify_find_watch(struct inotify_handle *ih, struct inode *inode,
+ struct inotify_watch **watchp);
+
+ s32 inotify_find_update_watch(struct inotify_handle *ih,
+ struct inode *inode, u32 mask);
+
+ int inotify_rm_wd(struct inotify_handle *ih, u32 wd);
+
+ int inotify_rm_watch(struct inotify_handle *ih,
+ struct inotify_watch *watch);
+
+ void inotify_remove_watch_locked(struct inotify_handle *ih,
+ struct inotify_watch *watch);
+
+ void inotify_destroy(struct inotify_handle *ih);
+
+ void get_inotify_watch(struct inotify_watch *watch);
+ void put_inotify_watch(struct inotify_watch *watch);
+
+
+(v) Internal Kernel Implementation
+
+Each inotify instance is represented by an inotify_handle structure.
+Inotify's userspace consumers also have an inotify_device which is
+associated with the inotify_handle, and on which events are queued.
Each watch is associated with an inotify_watch structure. Watches are chained
-off of each associated device and each associated inode.
+off of each associated inotify_handle and each associated inode.
-See fs/inotify.c for the locking and lifetime rules.
+See fs/inotify.c and fs/inotify_user.c for the locking and lifetime rules.
-(iii) Rationale
+(vi) Rationale
Q: What is the design decision behind not tying the watch to the open fd of
the watched object?
This solves the primary problem with dnotify: keeping the file open pins
the file and thus, worse, pins the mount. Dnotify is therefore infeasible
for use on a desktop system with removable media as the media cannot be
- unmounted.
+ unmounted. Watching a file should not require that it be open.
-Q: What is the design decision behind using an-fd-per-device as opposed to
+Q: What is the design decision behind using an-fd-per-instance as opposed to
an fd-per-watch?
A: An fd-per-watch quickly consumes more file descriptors than are allowed,
can use epoll, but requiring both is a silly and extraneous requirement.
A watch consumes less memory than an open file, separating the number
spaces is thus sensible. The current design is what user-space developers
- want: Users initialize inotify, once, and add n watches, requiring but one fd
- and no twiddling with fd limits. Initializing an inotify instance two
+ want: Users initialize inotify, once, and add n watches, requiring but one
+ fd and no twiddling with fd limits. Initializing an inotify instance two
thousand times is silly. If we can implement user-space's preferences
cleanly--and we can, the idr layer makes stuff like this trivial--then we
should.
example, love it. Trust me, I asked. It is not a surprise: Who'd want
to manage and block on 1000 fd's via select?
- - You'd have to manage the fd's, as an example: Call close() when you
- received a delete event.
-
- No way to get out of band data.
- 1024 is still too low. ;-)
scales to 1000s of directories, juggling 1000s of fd's just does not seem
the right interface. It is too heavy.
+ Additionally, it _is_ possible to more than one instance and
+ juggle more than one queue and thus more than one associated fd. There
+ need not be a one-fd-per-process mapping; it is one-fd-per-queue and a
+ process can easily want more than one queue.
+
Q: Why the system call approach?
A: The poor user-space interface is the second biggest problem with dnotify.
file descriptor-based one that allows basic file I/O and poll/select.
Obtaining the fd and managing the watches could have been done either via a
device file or a family of new system calls. We decided to implement a
- family of system calls because that is the preffered approach for new kernel
- features and it means our user interface requirements.
-
- Additionally, it _is_ possible to more than one instance and
- juggle more than one queue and thus more than one associated fd.
+ family of system calls because that is the preferred approach for new kernel
+ interfaces. The only real difference was whether we wanted to use open(2)
+ and ioctl(2) or a couple of new system calls. System calls beat ioctls.
git.openpandora.org / pandora-kernel.git / blobdiff