Package: watchdog-lite
Python API and shell utilities to monitor file system events.Example API UsageA simple program that uses watchdog to monitor directories specified
as command-line arguments and logs events generated:importsysimporttimeimportloggingfromwatchdog.observersimportObserverfromwatchdog.eventsimportLoggingEventHandlerif__name__=="__main__":logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO,format='%(asctime)s-%(message)s',datefmt='%Y-%m-%d%H:%M:%S')path=sys.argv[1]iflen(sys.argv)>1else'.'event_handler=LoggingEventHandler()observer=Observer()observer.schedule(event_handler,path,recursive=True)observer.start()try:whileTrue:time.sleep(1)exceptKeyboardInterrupt:observer.stop()observer.join()Shell UtilitiesWatchdog comes with a utility script calledwatchmedo.
Please typewatchmedo--helpat the shell prompt to
know more about this tool.Here is how you can log the current directory recursively
for events related only to*.pyand*.txtfiles while
ignoring all directory events:watchmedolog\--patterns="*.py;*.txt"\--ignore-directories\--recursive\.You can use theshell-commandsubcommand to execute shell commands in
response to events:watchmedoshell-command\--patterns="*.py;*.txt"\--recursive\--command='echo "${watch_src_path}"'\.Please see the help information for these commands by typing:watchmedo[command]--helpAboutwatchmedoTrickswatchmedocan readtricks.yamlfiles and execute tricks within them in
response to file system events. Tricks are actually event handlers that
subclasswatchdog.tricks.Trickand are written by plugin authors. Trick
classes are augmented with a few additional features that regular event handlers
don’t need.An exampletricks.yamlfile:tricks:-watchdog.tricks.LoggerTrick:patterns:["*.py","*.js"]-watchmedo_webtricks.GoogleClosureTrick:patterns:['*.js']hash_names:truemappings_format:json# json|yaml|pythonmappings_module:app/javascript_mappingssuffix:.min.jscompilation_level:advanced# simple|advancedsource_directory:app/static/js/destination_directory:app/public/js/files:index-page:-app/static/js/vendor/jquery*.js-app/static/js/base.js-app/static/js/index-page.jsabout-page:-app/static/js/vendor/jquery*.js-app/static/js/base.js-app/static/js/about-page/**/*.jsThe directory containing thetricks.yamlfile will be monitored. Each trick
class is initialized with its corresponding keys in thetricks.yamlfile as
arguments and events are fed to an instance of this class as they arrive.Tricks will be included in the 0.5.0 release. I need community input about them.
Please file enhancement requests at theissue tracker.InstallationInstalling from PyPI usingpip:$pipinstallwatchdogInstalling from PyPI usingeasy_install:$easy_installwatchdogInstalling from source:$pythonsetup.pyinstallInstallation CaveatsThewatchmedoscript depends onPyYAMLwhich links withLibYAML,
which brings a performance boost to the PyYAML parser. However, installingLibYAMLis optional but recommended. On Mac OS X, you can usehomebrewto install LibYAML:$brewinstalllibyamlOn Linux, use your favorite package manager to install LibYAML. Here’s how you
do it on Ubuntu:$sudoaptitudeinstalllibyaml-devOn Windows, please installPyYAMLusing the binaries they provide.DocumentationYou can browse the latest releasedocumentationonline.ContributeFork therepositoryon GitHub and send a pull request, or file an issue
ticket at theissue tracker. For general help and questions use the officialmailing listor ask onstackoverflowwith tagpython-watchdog.Create and activate your virtual environment, then:pip install pytest
pip install -e .
py.test testsSupported PlatformsLinux 2.6 (inotify)Mac OS X (FSEvents, kqueue)FreeBSD/BSD (kqueue)Windows (ReadDirectoryChangesW with I/O completion ports;
ReadDirectoryChangesW worker threads)OS-independent (polling the disk for directory snapshots and comparing them
periodically; slow and not recommended)Note that when using watchdog with kqueue, you need the
number of file descriptors allowed to be opened by programs
running on your system to be increased to more than the
number of files that you will be monitoring. The easiest way
to do that is to edit your~/.profilefile and add
a line similar to:ulimit -n 1024This is an inherent problem with kqueue because it uses
file descriptors to monitor files. That plus the enormous
amount of bookkeeping that watchdog needs to do in order
to monitor file descriptors just makes this a painful way
to monitor files and directories. In essence, kqueue is
not a very scalable way to monitor a deeply nested
directory of files and directories with a large number of
files.About using watchdog with editors like VimVim does not modify files unless directed to do so.
It creates backup files and then swaps them in to replace
the files you are editing on the disk. This means that
if you use Vim to edit your files, the on-modified events
for those files will not be triggered by watchdog.
You may need to configure Vim to appropriately to disable
this feature.DependenciesPython 2.6 or above.pathtoolsselect_backport(select.kqueue replacement for 2.6 on BSD/Mac OS X)XCode(only on Mac OS X)PyYAML(only forwatchmedoscript)argh(only forwatchmedoscript)LicensingWatchdog is licensed under the terms of theApache License, version 2.0.Copyright 2011Yesudeep Mangalapilly.Copyright 2012 Google, Inc.Projectsource codeis available at Github. Please report bugs and file
enhancement requests at theissue tracker.Why Watchdog?Too many people tried to do the same thing and none did what I needed Python
to do:pnotifyunison fsmonitorfsmonitorguardpyinotifyinotify-toolsjnotifytreewalkerfile.monitorpyfilesystemAPI changes0.8.2Event emitters are no longer started on schedule ifObserveris not
already running.0.8.0DirectorySnapshot: methods returning internal stat info replaced bymtime,inodeandpathmethods.DirectorySnapshot:walker_callbackparameter deprecated.