[Inotify-tools] Issues in dealing with IN_MOVE_SELF and IN_DELETE_SELF

[Sandeep S. <san...@gm...>]

Hello,

I have been using inotify for quite some time now. I just wanted to know
few things as below:

I have a question specific to my project requirements. I want to monitor a
directory and should be able to detect its DELETE event and MOVE event,
hence I register for IN_DELETE_SELF AND IN_MOVE_SELF (along with other
desired events).

As you know, whenever inotify triggers with an event, it gives us the wd
(watch descriptor) associated with the change.  In case of directory move,
I get an event for IN_MOVE_SELF, and as per project requirement I need to
identify where the move happened (I mean the new location).So currently,
for every directory I monitor and for every directory for which I would be
interested in detecting MOVE, I store an open file descriptor associated
with it and once I get the move event, then I will fetch the
file-descriptor and try to get the new path as below:

Int fd = open(watchPath.c_str(), O_RDONLY); //code to store a reference of
file-descriptor of the monitored directory

char fdpath[4096];

char path[4096];

sprintf(fdpath, "/proc/self/fd/%d", fd);

ssize_t sz = readlink(fdpath, path, sizeof(path) - 1); //path will contain
new location


This way I can get the new path, but the side effect is, in case if I
delete the directory (instead of move), I won’t get the IN_DELETE_SELF
event, because there is an open file descriptor that is still open. But, if
I do not store the file-descriptor, I get the IN_DELETE_SELF event, but I
cannot detect the new location of move.

Could you please help me resolve this issue.

Thanks and Best Regards,

-Sandeep