Emacs: 26.0.90 OS: macOS 10.13.2 1. start Emacs with -Q 2. open a test file (like 1.c) 3. turn on auto-revert-mode by run global-auto-revert-mode 4. add auto-revert-use-notify as a watcher variable by debug-on-variable-change 5. open the test file with vim 6. modify the test file in vim and save it 7. Emacs enter debug with the following msg: Debugger entered--setting auto-revert-use-notify in buffer 1.c to nil: debug--implement-debug-watch(auto-revert-use-notify nil set #) auto-revert-notify-handler((13 stopped "/Users/jun/test/1.c")) file-notify--rm-descriptor(13) file-notify-rm-watch(13) #f(compiled-function (key value) #)(13 (#)) maphash(#f(compiled-function (key value) #) #) auto-revert-notify-rm-watch() auto-revert-notify-handler((13 stopped "/Users/jun/test/1.c")) file-notify--rm-descriptor(13) file-notify-rm-watch(13) file-notify-callback((13 (rename delete) "/Users/jun/test/1.c")) file-notify-handle-event((file-notify (13 (rename delete) "/Users/jun/test/1.c") file-notify-callback)) funcall-interactively(file-notify-handle-event (file-notify (13 (rename delete) "/Users/jun/test/1.c") file-notify-callback)) call-interactively(file-notify-handle-event nil [(file-notify (13 (rename delete) "/Users/jun/test/1.c") file-notify-callback)]) command-execute(file-notify-handle-event nil [(file-notify (13 (rename delete) "/Users/jun/test/1.c") file-notify-callback)] t)