How can I tell if I am out of inotify watches?

Posted by Jorge Castro on Ask Ubuntu See other posts from Ask Ubuntu or by Jorge Castro
Published on 2012-06-21T17:28:08Z Indexed on 2012/06/24 15:25 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 312

Filed under:

inotify

I use an application that consumes inotify watches. I've already set

fs.inotify.max_user_watches=32768

in /etc/sysctl.conf but last night the application stopped indexing unless I ran it manually, which leads me to suspect I am out of watches.

Since I don't know what the trade off is when I increase this number (does it consume more RAM?), I don't know if I should just increase this number, so I'd like to know if there's a way I can tell if it's using all these watches and what the tradeoffs might be for increasing it.

Related posts about inotify

inotify delete_self when modifying and saving a file

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I am running a small inotify script that sets up a watch on a file. Each time that file is edited and saved, the script notices that a DELETE_SELF event is triggered. Is that normal and if it is why? Shouldn't the inotify subsystem notice that the file still exists? >>> More
Using inotify-tools and ruby to push uploads to Cloud Files

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi Guys, I wrote a few scripts to monitor an uploads directory for changes, then capture the file uploaded/changed and push it to cloud files using a ruby script. This all works well 95% of the time, the only exception is that occasionally, ruby fails with a 'file does not exist' exception. I am… >>> More
Dropbox like service with git -- no with rsync and inotify

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Do you have any advice as how to setup a Dropbox like service using git? Do you think git is the right tool for this? I was thinking about using a git + rush solution what do you think about it? >>> More
How can I tell if I am out of inotify watches?

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I use an application that consumes inotify watches. I've already set fs.inotify.max_user_watches=32768 in /etc/sysctl.conf but last night the application stopped indexing unless I ran it manually, which leads me to suspect I am out of watches. Since I don't know what the trade off is when I increase… >>> More
Monitor Linux file system events with inotify

as seen on Internet.com - Search for 'Internet.com'
<b>IBM Developerworks:</b> "Summary: Use inotify when you need efficient, fine-grained, asynchronous monitoring of Linux file system events. Use it for user-space monitoring for security, performance, or other purposes." >>> More

Developer IT