Re: [PATCH] Added inotify support.

[Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>]

> That said, when will this simpler interface be added? before or after
> Emacs 24.3 is locked for changes?

After: there is no time to design such an API before the freeze.

> That's assuming the inotify support _will_ be in Emacs 24.3.

I think it would be good for it to be in 24.3, mostly to get the
ball rolling.

> Hmmm... does this include file size? I don't know.  If it doesn't,
> then do I need to catch the series of IN_OPEN, IN_WRITE, IN_CLOSE?

Yes, someone will have to figure that out.  Leaving inotify outside of
24.3 won't save this work, tho.

> For example, if you type at the shell prompt "echo foo > bar" with
> 'bar' an existing non-empty file, how many notifications do you see?
> On Windows, I get 2 or 3, depending on the details: 2 for size change
> (first one when the file is truncated, second one when "foo" is
> written into it), and sometimes also an attribute or "security" change
> (e.g., if the original file was owned by someone else).  Unless
> inotify magically merges all these into a single meaningful
> notification, the Lisp code that receives this series of notifications
> will have hard time doing TRT with them, even if the exact expected
> series are known in advance, especially if other notifications are
> interspersed with these.

Yes, but I don't see what alternative approach would save us from doing
this work.

> And we should talk _today_ about that API, because some of the
> processing needed to produce higher-level abstractions of events are
> much easier done in C than in Lisp.

Ah, so that's what it's about.  I don't see why that should be the case,
but if it is so, then indeed we might be better off postponing
the merge.  Or to only include it if Emacs is compiled with some
"experimental-inotify" flag.


        Stefan