FAM - File Alteration Monitor - Summary

This group is not part of the GNU Project.

FAM provides an API applications can use to be notified when specific files or directories are changed.  It is intended to be a more efficient and more useful replacement for alternatives such as the poll and select system calls.

FAM is most useful for tools such as graphical file managers, which should always show the current state of the system, even if another tool is used to modify a file.  Other possible uses include a mail program monitoring a mailbox for new mail and a daemon monitoring its configuration file for configuration changes.

FAM comes in two parts: fam, the daemon that listens for requests and delivers notification, and libfam, a library client applications can use to communicate with fam.

FAM was developed for SGI's IRIX operating system, and has been used under that environment for several years.  The open source version available here is almost identical in functionality and should build on most Unix-like platforms.

FAM uses IRIX's /dev/imon feature to get updates directly from the kernel, making it very efficient.  When /dev/imon is not available, FAM falls back to polling mode.  Support for Linux's DNotify API has recently been contributed, and it is hoped that support for other operating system's equivalent features (such as FreeBSD's kqueue or Solaris's /dev/poll) will be contributed or developed.

Savannah is currently being used only for FAM CVS development.  For downloads, bug tracking, and further information, please see the FAM home page.

Registration Date: Sat 12 Apr 2003 05:02:16 AM UTC
License: GNU General Public License v2 or later
Development Status: 6 - Mature