upstart-file-bridge(8)
NAME
upstart-file-bridge - Bridge between Upstart and inotify
SYNOPSIS
upstart-file-bridge [OPTIONS]...
DESCRIPTION
upstart-file-bridge receives information about kernel file events that
inotify(7) has received and creates init(8) events for them.
Supported events exposed to Upstart allow jobs to detect creation,
modification and deletion. See file-event(7) for further details.
The bridge works by querying the init(8) daemon at bridge startup time
to determine a list of all jobs whose start on or stop on conditions
reference the file event. Further, the bridge arranges to be notified
automatically when new jobs are created such that any subsequent jobs
which reference the file event are also handled (as are job deletions).
See inotify(7) and for further details.
OPTIONS
--daemon
Detach and run in the background.
--debug
Enable debugging output.
--help Show brief usage summary.
--user User-session mode: connect to Upstart via the user session
rather than over the D-Bus system bus.
--verbose
Enable verbose output.
JOB ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
FILE Path to file to watch. When run without --user, this must be an
absolute path. If --user is specified, certain relative path
types are supported:
* If the path begins with '~/', the value will be expanded as
would be performed by a shell for matching purposes (although
when the event is emitted, the original value will be used).
* If the path begins with './', '.' will be assumed to be the
users home directory.
* In all other scenarios, if the path does not begin with '/',
it will be assumed to represent a file below the users home
directory.
If the path ends with a slash, it is considered to be a
directory which changes the match behaviour (see below).
If the path is not a directory, the file (but not the directory)
portion of the path may contain wildcard matches. See fnmatch(3)
and glob(7) for further details.
EVENT Event relating to FILE that job is interested in. If this
variable is specified the value must be set to create, modify or
delete depending on what type of file event the job is
interested in. If FILE is not specified, the bridge will watch
for all types and set this variable to the appropriate value
when emitting the event.
WATCH TYPE BEHAVIOUR
The bridge emits events depending not only on the value of EVENT, but
also on the entity specified by FILE:
File
An event will be emitted when the named file is created, modified or
deleted depending on the value of EVENT. If EVENT is not specified,
react to creation, modification and deletion.
If the file already exists when the job is registered, and EVENT either
specifies create or the variable is not specified, the event will be
emitted.
Directory
An event will be emitted when the named directory is created, modified
(files within it are created, modified or deleted) or deleted depending
on the value of EVENT. If EVENT is not specified, react to creation,
modification and deletion.
If the directory already exists when the job is registered, and EVENT
either specifies create or the variable is not specified, the event
will be emitted.
Glob
One event will be emitted per match when the glob wildcard matches any
files in the directory part is created, modified or deleted, depending
on the value of EVENT. If EVENT is not specified, react to creation,
modification and deletion.
If any matches already exist when the job is registered, and EVENT
either specifies create or the variable is not specified, events will
be emitted.
NOTES
* A single instance of the bridge may be run at the system level, but
multiple further instances may be run per user session instance by
using the --user.
* All job conditions specifying the file event are multi-shot: if the
same file event occurs multiple times, the bridge will emit an
Upstart event each time.
LIMITATIONS
* Since the bridge currently uses inotify(7), it is subject to the
same limitations; namely that recursive watches cannot be created
reliably in all circumstances. As such, pathological scenarios such
as deep directory trees being created and then quickly removed
cannot be handled reliably. The following provides advice to
minimise unexpected behaviour:
* Attempt to only watch for files to be created, modified or
deleted in directories that are guaranteed to already exist at
the time the job is registered by the bridge.
* If the system cannot guarantee that the directory will exist at
job registration time, arrange for the directory to be created
by an Upstart job before the bridge itself starts.
* In user session mode, if a job specifies a file to watch for
and that file is created but inaccessible to the user running
the bridge, no event will be emitted.
* Tilde expansion is only supported for the current user; that is
'~otheruser' will not work.
AUTHOR
Written by James Hunt <james.hunt@canonical.com>
BUGS
Report bugs at <https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/upstart/+bugs>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2013 Canonical Ltd.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is
NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE.
SEE ALSO
init(5) init(8) inotify(7) file-event(7)
Free and Open Source Software