1# File system notifications for Go 2 3[](https://godoc.org/github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify) [](https://goreportcard.com/report/github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify) 4 5fsnotify utilizes [golang.org/x/sys](https://godoc.org/golang.org/x/sys) rather than `syscall` from the standard library. Ensure you have the latest version installed by running: 6 7```console 8go get -u golang.org/x/sys/... 9``` 10 11Cross platform: Windows, Linux, BSD and macOS. 12 13|Adapter |OS |Status | 14|----------|----------|----------| 15|inotify |Linux 2.6.27 or later, Android\*|Supported [](https://travis-ci.org/fsnotify/fsnotify)| 16|kqueue |BSD, macOS, iOS\*|Supported [](https://travis-ci.org/fsnotify/fsnotify)| 17|ReadDirectoryChangesW|Windows|Supported [](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/NathanYoungman/fsnotify/branch/master)| 18|FSEvents |macOS |[Planned](https://github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify/issues/11)| 19|FEN |Solaris 11 |[In Progress](https://github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify/issues/12)| 20|fanotify |Linux 2.6.37+ | | 21|USN Journals |Windows |[Maybe](https://github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify/issues/53)| 22|Polling |*All* |[Maybe](https://github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify/issues/9)| 23 24\* Android and iOS are untested. 25 26Please see [the documentation](https://godoc.org/github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify) and consult the [FAQ](#faq) for usage information. 27 28## API stability 29 30fsnotify is a fork of [howeyc/fsnotify](https://godoc.org/github.com/howeyc/fsnotify) with a new API as of v1.0. The API is based on [this design document](http://goo.gl/MrYxyA). 31 32All [releases](https://github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify/releases) are tagged based on [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/). Further API changes are [planned](https://github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify/milestones), and will be tagged with a new major revision number. 33 34Go 1.6 supports dependencies located in the `vendor/` folder. Unless you are creating a library, it is recommended that you copy fsnotify into `vendor/github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify` within your project, and likewise for `golang.org/x/sys`. 35 36## Contributing 37 38Please refer to [CONTRIBUTING][] before opening an issue or pull request. 39 40## Example 41 42See [example_test.go](https://github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify/blob/master/example_test.go). 43 44## FAQ 45 46**When a file is moved to another directory is it still being watched?** 47 48No (it shouldn't be, unless you are watching where it was moved to). 49 50**When I watch a directory, are all subdirectories watched as well?** 51 52No, you must add watches for any directory you want to watch (a recursive watcher is on the roadmap [#18][]). 53 54**Do I have to watch the Error and Event channels in a separate goroutine?** 55 56As of now, yes. Looking into making this single-thread friendly (see [howeyc #7][#7]) 57 58**Why am I receiving multiple events for the same file on OS X?** 59 60Spotlight indexing on OS X can result in multiple events (see [howeyc #62][#62]). A temporary workaround is to add your folder(s) to the *Spotlight Privacy settings* until we have a native FSEvents implementation (see [#11][]). 61 62**How many files can be watched at once?** 63 64There are OS-specific limits as to how many watches can be created: 65* Linux: /proc/sys/fs/inotify/max_user_watches contains the limit, reaching this limit results in a "no space left on device" error. 66* BSD / OSX: sysctl variables "kern.maxfiles" and "kern.maxfilesperproc", reaching these limits results in a "too many open files" error. 67 68[#62]: https://github.com/howeyc/fsnotify/issues/62 69[#18]: https://github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify/issues/18 70[#11]: https://github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify/issues/11 71[#7]: https://github.com/howeyc/fsnotify/issues/7 72 73[contributing]: https://github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md 74 75## Related Projects 76 77* [notify](https://github.com/rjeczalik/notify) 78* [fsevents](https://github.com/fsnotify/fsevents) 79 80
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