Easily track down the number of inotify watches, instances, and which files are being watched.
The Linux inotify system has a few issues 12 and it can be difficult to debug when you for instance run out of watches. Using this app should hopefully aid you in tracking down how many inotify watches, instances, and what files are being watched.
$ make
Building _release/inotify-info...
---- inotify-info.cpp ----
---- lfqueue/lfqueue.c ----
Linking _release/inotify-info...
$ CFG=debug make
Building _debug/inotify-info...
---- inotify-info.cpp ----
---- lfqueue/lfqueue.c ----
Linking _debug/inotify-info...
The resulting executable will be at _release/inotify-info. You are free to
copy the resulting executable to any suitable location in your $PATH or run
make install to install to /usr/local/bin.
$ _release/inotify-info
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INotify Limits:
max_queued_events: 16384
max_user_instances: 128
max_user_watches: 65536
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pid App Watches Instances
2632 systemd 23 3
2653 pulseaudio 2 2
2656 dbus-daemon 2 1
2987 dbus-daemon 1 1
3056 xfsettingsd 56 1
3068 xfdesktop 10 1
3072 wrapper-2.0 6 1
3091 xfce4-clipman 1 1
3099 xiccd 1 1
3343 xfce4-terminal 1 1
3997 xfce4-appfinder 11 1
4048 xdg-desktop-portal 1 1
4086 xdg-desktop-portal-gtk 56 1
205668 vivaldi-bin 8 1
205705 vivaldi-bin 2 1
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total inotify Watches: 181
Total inotify Instances: 18
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
$ _release/inotify-info xfce4
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INotify Limits:
max_queued_events: 16384
max_user_instances: 128
max_user_watches: 65536
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pid App Watches Instances
2632 systemd 23 3
2653 pulseaudio 2 2
2656 dbus-daemon 2 1
2987 dbus-daemon 1 1
3056 xfsettingsd 56 1
3068 xfdesktop 10 1
3072 wrapper-2.0 6 1
3091 xfce4-clipman 1 1
94111050 [10304h]
3099 xiccd 1 1
3343 xfce4-terminal 1 1
71048655 [10304h]
3997 xfce4-appfinder 11 1
94111468 [10304h] 15339430 [10304h] 14554799 [10304h] 70254617 [10304h] 70254684 [10304h] 16786993 [10304h] 14551253 [10304h] 14550430 [10304h] 70254647 [10304h] 70254646 [10304h]
92275589 [10304h]
4048 xdg-desktop-portal 1 1
4086 xdg-desktop-portal-gtk 56 1
205668 vivaldi-bin 8 1
205705 vivaldi-bin 2 1
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total inotify Watches: 181
Total inotify Instances: 18
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Searching '/' for listed inodes... (8 threads)
14550430 [10304h] /usr/share/applications/
14551253 [10304h] /usr/local/share/
14554799 [10304h] /usr/share/xfce4/
15339430 [10304h] /usr/share/desktop-directories/
16786993 [10304h] /usr/share/xfce4/applications/
70254617 [10304h] /home/mikesart/.local/share/
70254646 [10304h] /home/mikesart/.config/menus/
70254647 [10304h] /home/mikesart/.config/menus/applications-merged/
70254684 [10304h] /home/mikesart/.local/share/applications/
71048655 [10304h] /home/mikesart/.config/xfce4/terminal/
92275589 [10304h] /etc/xdg/menus/
94111050 [10304h] /home/mikesart/.config/xfce4/panel/
94111468 [10304h] /home/mikesart/.cache/xfce4/xfce4-appfinder/
$ _release/inotify-info 3997
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INotify Limits:
max_queued_events: 16384
max_user_instances: 128
max_user_watches: 65536
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pid App Watches Instances
2632 systemd 23 3
2653 pulseaudio 2 2
2656 dbus-daemon 2 1
2987 dbus-daemon 1 1
3056 xfsettingsd 56 1
3068 xfdesktop 10 1
3072 wrapper-2.0 6 1
3091 xfce4-clipman 1 1
3099 xiccd 1 1
3343 xfce4-terminal 1 1
3997 xfce4-appfinder 11 1
94111468 [10304h] 15339430 [10304h] 14554799 [10304h] 70254617 [10304h] 70254684 [10304h] 16786993 [10304h] 14551253 [10304h] 14550430 [10304h] 70254647 [10304h] 70254646 [10304h]
92275589 [10304h]
4048 xdg-desktop-portal 1 1
4086 xdg-desktop-portal-gtk 56 1
205668 vivaldi-bin 8 1
205705 vivaldi-bin 2 1
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total inotify Watches: 181
Total inotify Instances: 18
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Searching '/' for listed inodes... (8 threads)
14550430 [10304h] /usr/share/applications/
14551253 [10304h] /usr/local/share/
14554799 [10304h] /usr/share/xfce4/
15339430 [10304h] /usr/share/desktop-directories/
16786993 [10304h] /usr/share/xfce4/applications/
70254617 [10304h] /home/mikesart/.local/share/
70254646 [10304h] /home/mikesart/.config/menus/
70254647 [10304h] /home/mikesart/.config/menus/applications-merged/
70254684 [10304h] /home/mikesart/.local/share/applications/
92275589 [10304h] /etc/xdg/menus/
94111468 [10304h] /home/mikesart/.cache/xfce4/xfce4-appfinder/
docker build . -t inotify-info
docker run --rm --privileged -v /proc:/proc inotify-infoWhen running under podman non-root mode, append --ulimit nofile=65535:65535 to the podman build command.
nix run nixpkgs#inotify-info