Yes. this seems OK. But there is a delay before auto-revert every 2 appending to the test file. echo aaa >> test.c (auto-revert ok) echo aaa >> test.c (delay about 4s, then auto-revert ok) echo aaa >> test.c (auto-revert ok) echo aaa >> test.c (delay about 4s, then auto-revert ok) … I added some debug log to two method (name in []): [file-notify-callback]: (9 (extend write) /Users/jun/test/1.c) [auto-revert-notify-handler]: (9 changed /Users/jun/test/1.c) Reverting buffer ‘1.c’. [file-notify-callback]: (9 (extend write) /Users/jun/test/1.c) [auto-revert-notify-handler]: (9 changed /Users/jun/test/1.c) [file-notify-callback]: (9 (extend write) /Users/jun/test/1.c) [auto-revert-notify-handler]: (9 changed /Users/jun/test/1.c) [file-notify-callback]: (9 (extend write) /Users/jun/test/1.c) [auto-revert-notify-handler]: (9 changed /Users/jun/test/1.c) Reverting buffer ‘1.c’. 3 write events but only one auto-revert. There is a big delay before auto-reverting, not every one, about every two or three. You can modify the test file with the following bash script: #!/bin/bash for (( i = 0; i < 100; i++ )); do echo $i >> 1.c sleep 2 done