erikzenker/inotify-cpp

A C++ interface for linux inotify

Inotify-cpp

Inotify-cpp is a C++ wrapper for linux inotify. It lets you watch for filesystem events on your filesystem tree. The following usage example shows the implementation of a simple filesystem event watcher for the commandline.

Usage

#include <inotify-cpp/NotifierBuilder.h>

#include <filesystem>

#include <iostream>
#include <thread>
#include <chrono>

using namespace inotify;

int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
  if (argc <= 1) {
      std::cout << "Usage: ./inotify_example /path/to/dir" << std::endl;
      exit(0);
  }

  // Parse the directory to watch
  std::filesystem::path path(argv[1]);

  // Set the event handler which will be used to process particular events
  auto handleNotification = [&](Notification notification) {
      std::cout << "Event " << notification.event << " on " << notification.path << " at "
                << notification.time.time_since_epoch().count() << " was triggered." << std::endl;
  };

  // Set the a separate unexpected event handler for all other events. An exception is thrown by
  // default.
  auto handleUnexpectedNotification = [](Notification notification) {
      std::cout << "Event " << notification.event << " on " << notification.path << " at "
                << notification.time.time_since_epoch().count()
                << " was triggered, but was not expected" << std::endl;
  };

  // Set the events to be notified for
  auto events = { Event::open | Event::is_dir, // some events occur in combinations
                  Event::access,
                  Event::create,
                  Event::modify,
                  Event::remove,
                  Event::move };

  // The notifier is configured to watch the parsed path for the defined events. Particular files
  // or paths can be ignored(once).
  auto notifier = BuildNotifier()
                      .watchPathRecursively(path)
                      .ignoreFileOnce("fileIgnoredOnce")
                      .ignoreFile("fileIgnored")
                      .onEvents(events, handleNotification)
                      .onUnexpectedEvent(handleUnexpectedNotification);

  // The event loop is started in a separate thread context.
  std::thread thread([&](){ notifier.run(); });

  // Terminate the event loop after 60 seconds
  std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::seconds(60));
  notifier.stop();
  thread.join();
  return 0;
}

Build and Install Library

mkdir build; cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr ..
cmake --build .

# run tests
ctest -VV

# install the library
cmake --build . --target install

Build Example

mkdir build; cd build
cmake ..
cmake --build . --target inotify_example
./example/inotify_example

Install from Packet

• Arch Linux: yaourt -S inotify-cpp-git

Dependencies

• lib
  • boost 1.54.0
  • c++17
  • linux 2.6.13
• build
  • cmake 3.8

Licence

MIT

Author

Written by Erik Zenker (erikzenker@hotmail.com)

Thanks for Contribution

• spelcaster