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<title>Introduction (fswatch 1.17.1)</title>
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<div class="chapter" id="Introduction">
<div class="header">
<p>
Next: <a href="Tutorial-Introduction-to-fswatch.html" accesskey="n" rel="next">Tutorial Introduction to <code>fswatch</code></a>, Previous: <a href="Version-History.html" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Version History</a>, Up: <a href="index.html" accesskey="u" rel="up">fswatch</a> [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Index-of-Functions.html" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
</div>
<hr>
<span id="Introduction-1"></span><h2 class="chapter">2 Introduction</h2>
<p><code>fswatch</code> is a file change monitor that receives notifications
when the contents of the specified files or directories are modified.
<code>fswatch</code> interacts with the operating system using a
<em>monitor</em>. Currently, the following kinds of monitors are
available:
</p>
<ul>
<li> <span id="index-File-System-Events_002c-see-FSEvents"></span>
<span id="index-FSEvents_002c-API"></span>
<span id="index-monitor_002c-FSEvents"></span>
<span id="index-Apple-macOS-2"></span>
A monitor based on the <em>File System Events</em> <acronym>API</acronym>
(FSEvents) of Apple macOS.
</li><li> <span id="index-FreeBSD-1"></span>
<span id="index-BSD"></span>
<span id="index-kqueue"></span>
<span id="index-monitor_002c-kqueue"></span>
<span id="index-Apple-macOS-3"></span>
A monitor based on <em>kqueue</em>, an event notification interface
introduced in FreeBSD 4.1 and supported on most *BSD systems
(including Apple macOS).
</li><li> <span id="index-Solaris"></span>
<span id="index-Illumos"></span>
<span id="index-File-Events-Notifications"></span>
<span id="index-monitor_002c-fse"></span>
A monitor based on the <em>File Events Notification</em> <acronym>API</acronym>
of the Solaris kernel and its derivatives, such as Illumos.
</li><li> <span id="index-inotify"></span>
<span id="index-Linux"></span>
<span id="index-monitor_002c-inotify"></span>
A monitor based on <em>inotify</em>, a Linux kernel subsystem that
reports file system changes to applications.
</li><li> <span id="index-Microsoft-Windows-monitor"></span>
<span id="index-monitor_002c-Microsoft-Windows"></span>
<span id="index-Microsoft-Windows"></span>
<span id="index-ReadDirectoryChangesW"></span>
A monitor based on the Microsoft Windows’ <code>ReadDirectoryChangesW</code>
function.
</li><li> <span id="index-monitor_002c-poll"></span>
<span id="index-stat"></span>
A monitor which periodically stats the file system, saves file
modification times in memory and manually calculates file system
changes, which can work on any operating system where the
<code>stat()</code> function can be used.
</li></ul>
<p><code>fswatch</code> should build and work correctly on any system
shipping either of the aforementioned APIs.
</p>
<ul class="section-toc">
<li><a href="#History-and-fswatch-Authors" accesskey="1">History and <code>fswatch</code> Authors</a></li>
<li><a href="#Reporting-Bugs-and-Suggestions-1" accesskey="2">Reporting Bugs and Suggestions</a></li>
</ul>
<div class="section" id="History-and-fswatch-Authors">
<h3 class="section">2.1 History and <code>fswatch</code> Authors</h3>
<span id="index-authors"></span>
<span id="index-fswatch"></span>
<span id="index-fswatch_002c-initial-version"></span>
<span id="index-FSEvents"></span>
<span id="index-Apple-macOS-4"></span>
<span id="index-AUTHORS"></span>
<p>Alan <small>DIPERT</small> wrote the first implementation of <code>fswatch</code>
in 2009. This version ran exclusively on Apple macOS and relied on the
<em>FSEvents</em> API to get change events from the OS.
</p>
<span id="index-fsw-2"></span>
<span id="index-FSEvents-1"></span>
<span id="index-kqueue-1"></span>
<span id="index-inotify-1"></span>
<span id="index-Microsoft-Windows-1"></span>
<p>At the end of 2013 Enrico M. <small>CRISOSTOMO</small> wrote <code>fsw</code>
aiming at providing not only a drop-in replacement for
<code>fswatch</code>, but also a tool <em>portable</em> across as many
operating systems as possible. Besides adding support to other
operating systems, <code>fsw</code> introduced new features such as
inclusion and exclusion filters and customizable output formats.
</p>
<span id="index-fsw_002c-merging-with-fswatch"></span>
<span id="index-fswatch_002c-merging-with-fsw"></span>
<p>In April 2014 Alan and Enrico, in the best interest of users of either
<code>fswatch</code> and <code>fsw</code>, agreed on merging the two
programs together. At the same time, Enrico was taking over
<code>fswatch</code> as a maintainer. As a consequence, development of
<code>fswatch</code> has continued on its main repository while the
<code>fsw</code> repository has been frozen.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="Reporting-Bugs-and-Suggestions-1">
<h3 class="section">2.2 Reporting Bugs and Suggestions</h3>
<span id="Reporting-Bugs-and-Suggestions"></span><span id="index-bug"></span>
<span id="index-bug-report"></span>
<span id="index-GitHub"></span>
<span id="index-fswatch_002c-repository"></span>
<span id="index-fswatch_002c-source-code"></span>
<span id="index-CONTRIBUTING_002emd"></span>
<p>If you find problems or have suggestions about this program or this
manual, please report them as new issues in the official GitHub
repository of <code>fswatch</code> at
<a href="https://github.com/emcrisostomo/fswatch">https://github.com/emcrisostomo/fswatch</a>.
Please, read the <samp>CONTRIBUTING.md</samp> file for detailed instructions
on how to contribute to <code>fswatch</code>.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="header">
<p>
Next: <a href="Tutorial-Introduction-to-fswatch.html">Tutorial Introduction to <code>fswatch</code></a>, Previous: <a href="Version-History.html">Version History</a>, Up: <a href="index.html">fswatch</a> [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Index-of-Functions.html" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
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