septag/dmon

dmon

@septag

dmon is a tiny C library that monitors changes in a directory. It provides a unified solution to multiple system APIs that exist for each OS. It can also monitor directories recursively.

Platforms

• Windows: ReadDirectoryChangesW backend. Tested with Windows10 SDK + Visual Studio 2019
• Linux: inotify backend. Tested with gcc-7.4/clang-6, ubuntu 18.04 LTS
• MacOS: FSEvents backend. Tested with MacOS-10.14 clang 10

Usage

You just have to include the file and use it's functions. It is also compatible with C++ code. Backslashes in Windows paths are also converted to '/' for portability.

#define DMON_IMPL
#include "dmon.h"

static void watch_callback(dmon_watch_id watch_id, dmon_action action, const char* rootdir,
                           const char* filepath, const char* oldfilepath, void* user)
{
    // receive change events. type of event is stored in 'action' variable
}

int main() 
{
    dmon_init();
    dmon_watch("/path/to/directory", watch_callback, DMON_WATCHFLAGS_RECURSIVE, NULL); 
    // wait ...
    dmon_deinit();
	return 0;
}

For more information and how to customize functionality, see dmon.h

To build on linux, link with pthread: gcc test.c -lpthread -o test

To build on MacOS, link with CoreServices and CoreFoundation: clang test.c -framework CoreFoundation -framework CoreServices -lpthread -o test

Linux Extras

There is this other file dmon_extra.h that you can include optionally after dmon.h for linux backend. There are two APIs that are introduced in that header, dmon_watch_add and dmon_watch_rm in which you can add/remove sub-directories to currently watched directory. This can be useful in cases where there are large set of changes happening on linux backend and you won't get all the events, because of some drawbacks of the inotify backend. So, by disabling DMON_WATCHFLAGS_RECURSIVE and using these functions to manually handle directory recursion, you can workaround those issues.

License (BSD 2-clause)

Copyright 2019 Sepehr Taghdisian. All rights reserved.

https://github.com/septag/dmon

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

   1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice,
      this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

   2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice,
      this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation
      and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY COPYRIGHT HOLDER ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO
EVENT SHALL COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT,
INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING,
BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE
OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF
ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.