Re: [gamin] Re: [Patch 0.0.10] Cleanup ENABLE_DNOTIFY and HAVE_LINUX and fix build error [u]

[John McCutchan <ttb tentacle dhs org>]

On Thu, 2004-09-23 at 16:24, Martin Schlemmer [c] wrote:
> On Wed, 2004-09-22 at 05:03 -0400, Daniel Veillard wrote:
> > On Wed, Sep 22, 2004 at 01:16:09AM +0200, Martin Schlemmer [c] wrote:
> > > On Tue, 2004-09-21 at 18:22 -0400, Daniel Veillard wrote:
> > > >   inotify should be able to fallback to poll too, otherwise it's
> > > > a bug in the inotify back-end, think for example for NFS resources.
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > Hmm - well it does not use poll.  I will see if I can have a
> > > look at at dnotify backend and cook something up.  I assume
> > > John never got to it, or you added the poll support to dnotify
> > > after inotify was added?
> > 
> >    I added it after, yes.
> > 
> 
> Ok, thanks.
> 

Actually, initially the inotify backend did support using the poll
backend as well. I got rid of it because at the time inotify provided
everything we needed. Now gamin supports watching things that inotify
can't, like directories that don't exist.

> > > >   gam_exclude_check is used by dnotify, last I checked before 0.0.10
> > > > this wasn't broken, and it better not break otherwise I will get a flurry
> > > > of bugs and I won't be happy.
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > I might be missing something here, but the only place its used
> > > is in gam_poll.c.  Maybe forgotten or missing commit?  Or maybe
> > > you can point out how it works if its not straight forward?
> > 
> >   You are missing the fact that dnotify implementation is just
> > a small "skin" on top of the poll module which implements most of
> > the semantic of thr fam engine.
> >   A resource also can be toggled back and forth between kernel dnotify
> > and polling mode based on the load it generates.
> > 
> 
> Right, so basically I should read some more if I actually want
> to do something about the inotify backend and lack of poll
> support :)

I was going to send an email to this list letting people know that the
inotify backend does need some love and I don't have the time right now
to do it. So if you are interested in working on it that would be
wicked! I can answer any questions you have about inotify.

John