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@@ -4,201 +4,10 @@ | |||
4 | 4 | ||
5 | 5 | ||
6 | Document started 15 Mar 2005 by Robert Love <rml@novell.com> | 6 | Document started 15 Mar 2005 by Robert Love <rml@novell.com> |
7 | Document updated 4 Jan 2015 by Zhang Zhen <zhenzhang.zhang@huawei.com> | ||
8 | --Deleted obsoleted interface, just refer to manpages for user interface. | ||
7 | 9 | ||
8 | 10 | (i) Rationale | |
9 | (i) User Interface | ||
10 | |||
11 | Inotify is controlled by a set of three system calls and normal file I/O on a | ||
12 | returned file descriptor. | ||
13 | |||
14 | First step in using inotify is to initialise an inotify instance: | ||
15 | |||
16 | int fd = inotify_init (); | ||
17 | |||
18 | Each instance is associated with a unique, ordered queue. | ||
19 | |||
20 | Change events are managed by "watches". A watch is an (object,mask) pair where | ||
21 | the object is a file or directory and the mask is a bit mask of one or more | ||
22 | inotify events that the application wishes to receive. See <linux/inotify.h> | ||
23 | for valid events. A watch is referenced by a watch descriptor, or wd. | ||
24 | |||
25 | Watches are added via a path to the file. | ||
26 | |||
27 | Watches on a directory will return events on any files inside of the directory. | ||
28 | |||
29 | Adding a watch is simple: | ||
30 | |||
31 | int wd = inotify_add_watch (fd, path, mask); | ||
32 | |||
33 | Where "fd" is the return value from inotify_init(), path is the path to the | ||
34 | object to watch, and mask is the watch mask (see <linux/inotify.h>). | ||
35 | |||
36 | You can update an existing watch in the same manner, by passing in a new mask. | ||
37 | |||
38 | An existing watch is removed via | ||
39 | |||
40 | int ret = inotify_rm_watch (fd, wd); | ||
41 | |||
42 | Events are provided in the form of an inotify_event structure that is read(2) | ||
43 | from a given inotify instance. The filename is of dynamic length and follows | ||
44 | the struct. It is of size len. The filename is padded with null bytes to | ||
45 | ensure proper alignment. This padding is reflected in len. | ||
46 | |||
47 | You can slurp multiple events by passing a large buffer, for example | ||
48 | |||
49 | size_t len = read (fd, buf, BUF_LEN); | ||
50 | |||
51 | Where "buf" is a pointer to an array of "inotify_event" structures at least | ||
52 | BUF_LEN bytes in size. The above example will return as many events as are | ||
53 | available and fit in BUF_LEN. | ||
54 | |||
55 | Each inotify instance fd is also select()- and poll()-able. | ||
56 | |||
57 | You can find the size of the current event queue via the standard FIONREAD | ||
58 | ioctl on the fd returned by inotify_init(). | ||
59 | |||
60 | All watches are destroyed and cleaned up on close. | ||
61 | |||
62 | |||
63 | (ii) | ||
64 | |||
65 | Prototypes: | ||
66 | |||
67 | int inotify_init (void); | ||
68 | int inotify_add_watch (int fd, const char *path, __u32 mask); | ||
69 | int inotify_rm_watch (int fd, __u32 mask); | ||
70 | |||
71 | |||
72 | (iii) Kernel Interface | ||
73 | |||
74 | Inotify's kernel API consists a set of functions for managing watches and an | ||
75 | event callback. | ||
76 | |||
77 | To use the kernel API, you must first initialize an inotify instance with a set | ||
78 | of inotify_operations. You are given an opaque inotify_handle, which you use | ||
79 | for any further calls to inotify. | ||
80 | |||
81 | struct inotify_handle *ih = inotify_init(my_event_handler); | ||
82 | |||
83 | You must provide a function for processing events and a function for destroying | ||
84 | the inotify watch. | ||
85 | |||
86 | void handle_event(struct inotify_watch *watch, u32 wd, u32 mask, | ||
87 | u32 cookie, const char *name, struct inode *inode) | ||
88 | |||
89 | watch - the pointer to the inotify_watch that triggered this call | ||
90 | wd - the watch descriptor | ||
91 | mask - describes the event that occurred | ||
92 | cookie - an identifier for synchronizing events | ||
93 | name - the dentry name for affected files in a directory-based event | ||
94 | inode - the affected inode in a directory-based event | ||
95 | |||
96 | void destroy_watch(struct inotify_watch *watch) | ||
97 | |||
98 | You may add watches by providing a pre-allocated and initialized inotify_watch | ||
99 | structure and specifying the inode to watch along with an inotify event mask. | ||
100 | You must pin the inode during the call. You will likely wish to embed the | ||
101 | inotify_watch structure in a structure of your own which contains other | ||
102 | information about the watch. Once you add an inotify watch, it is immediately | ||
103 | subject to removal depending on filesystem events. You must grab a reference if | ||
104 | you depend on the watch hanging around after the call. | ||
105 | |||
106 | inotify_init_watch(&my_watch->iwatch); | ||
107 | inotify_get_watch(&my_watch->iwatch); // optional | ||
108 | s32 wd = inotify_add_watch(ih, &my_watch->iwatch, inode, mask); | ||
109 | inotify_put_watch(&my_watch->iwatch); // optional | ||
110 | |||
111 | You may use the watch descriptor (wd) or the address of the inotify_watch for | ||
112 | other inotify operations. You must not directly read or manipulate data in the | ||
113 | inotify_watch. Additionally, you must not call inotify_add_watch() more than | ||
114 | once for a given inotify_watch structure, unless you have first called either | ||
115 | inotify_rm_watch() or inotify_rm_wd(). | ||
116 | |||
117 | To determine if you have already registered a watch for a given inode, you may | ||
118 | call inotify_find_watch(), which gives you both the wd and the watch pointer for | ||
119 | the inotify_watch, or an error if the watch does not exist. | ||
120 | |||
121 | wd = inotify_find_watch(ih, inode, &watchp); | ||
122 | |||
123 | You may use container_of() on the watch pointer to access your own data | ||
124 | associated with a given watch. When an existing watch is found, | ||
125 | inotify_find_watch() bumps the refcount before releasing its locks. You must | ||
126 | put that reference with: | ||
127 | |||
128 | put_inotify_watch(watchp); | ||
129 | |||
130 | Call inotify_find_update_watch() to update the event mask for an existing watch. | ||
131 | inotify_find_update_watch() returns the wd of the updated watch, or an error if | ||
132 | the watch does not exist. | ||
133 | |||
134 | wd = inotify_find_update_watch(ih, inode, mask); | ||
135 | |||
136 | An existing watch may be removed by calling either inotify_rm_watch() or | ||
137 | inotify_rm_wd(). | ||
138 | |||
139 | int ret = inotify_rm_watch(ih, &my_watch->iwatch); | ||
140 | int ret = inotify_rm_wd(ih, wd); | ||
141 | |||
142 | A watch may be removed while executing your event handler with the following: | ||
143 | |||
144 | inotify_remove_watch_locked(ih, iwatch); | ||
145 | |||
146 | Call inotify_destroy() to remove all watches from your inotify instance and | ||
147 | release it. If there are no outstanding references, inotify_destroy() will call | ||
148 | your destroy_watch op for each watch. | ||
149 | |||
150 | inotify_destroy(ih); | ||
151 | |||
152 | When inotify removes a watch, it sends an IN_IGNORED event to your callback. | ||
153 | You may use this event as an indication to free the watch memory. Note that | ||
154 | inotify may remove a watch due to filesystem events, as well as by your request. | ||
155 | If you use IN_ONESHOT, inotify will remove the watch after the first event, at | ||
156 | which point you may call the final inotify_put_watch. | ||
157 | |||
158 | (iv) Kernel Interface Prototypes | ||
159 | |||
160 | struct inotify_handle *inotify_init(struct inotify_operations *ops); | ||
161 | |||
162 | inotify_init_watch(struct inotify_watch *watch); | ||
163 | |||
164 | s32 inotify_add_watch(struct inotify_handle *ih, | ||
165 | struct inotify_watch *watch, | ||
166 | struct inode *inode, u32 mask); | ||
167 | |||
168 | s32 inotify_find_watch(struct inotify_handle *ih, struct inode *inode, | ||
169 | struct inotify_watch **watchp); | ||
170 | |||
171 | s32 inotify_find_update_watch(struct inotify_handle *ih, | ||
172 | struct inode *inode, u32 mask); | ||
173 | |||
174 | int inotify_rm_wd(struct inotify_handle *ih, u32 wd); | ||
175 | |||
176 | int inotify_rm_watch(struct inotify_handle *ih, | ||
177 | struct inotify_watch *watch); | ||
178 | |||
179 | void inotify_remove_watch_locked(struct inotify_handle *ih, | ||
180 | struct inotify_watch *watch); | ||
181 | |||
182 | void inotify_destroy(struct inotify_handle *ih); | ||
183 | |||
184 | void get_inotify_watch(struct inotify_watch *watch); | ||
185 | void put_inotify_watch(struct inotify_watch *watch); | ||
186 | |||
187 | |||
188 | (v) Internal Kernel Implementation | ||
189 | |||
190 | Each inotify instance is represented by an inotify_handle structure. | ||
191 | Inotify's userspace consumers also have an inotify_device which is | ||
192 | associated with the inotify_handle, and on which events are queued. | ||
193 | |||
194 | Each watch is associated with an inotify_watch structure. Watches are chained | ||
195 | off of each associated inotify_handle and each associated inode. | ||
196 | |||
197 | See fs/notify/inotify/inotify_fsnotify.c and fs/notify/inotify/inotify_user.c | ||
198 | for the locking and lifetime rules. | ||
199 | |||
200 | |||
201 | (vi) Rationale | ||
202 | 11 | ||
203 | Q: What is the design decision behind not tying the watch to the open fd of | 12 | Q: What is the design decision behind not tying the watch to the open fd of |
204 | the watched object? | 13 | the watched object? |