File Alteration Monitor
| File Alteration Monitor | |
|---|---|
| Basic data
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| developer | SGI |
| Current version | 2.7.0 (November 26, 2003) |
| operating system | Unix-like |
| programming language | C ++ |
| License | GPL (famd), LGPL (libfam) ( Free Software ) |
| oss.sgi.com/projects/fam | |
The File Alteration Monitor (FAM) is software for monitoring file systems for changes.
The free software for Unix-like operating systems was developed by Silicon Graphics and acts as a daemon (system service) on behalf of other programs to monitor specific directories. These programs are then notified by FAM and do not have to regularly search for changes themselves.
FAM consists of two components: the daemon famd ( GPL -licensed) and the program library libfam ( LGPL -licensed), which represents the interface to the clients.
A file monitor built into newer kernels such as dnotify or inotify is used by FAM and increases efficiency considerably. In this constellation, FAM continues to offer the advantage of platform independence and the distribution of tasks in network file systems by delegating monitoring tasks to a possible FAM instance on the server. FAM has a disadvantageous effect when creating large amounts of new files because it creates a lot of additional processor load. If possible, FAM uses the kernel's notification mechanisms and otherwise relies on regular queries from the file system.
FAM is used, for example, by file managers such as Konqueror , Nautilus or gentoo to keep the file view up to date and is integrated into numerous important BSDs and Linux distributions .
history
FAM was originally programmed by Bruce Karsh for SGI's IRIX operating system in 1989 . In 1995, FAM was also rewritten for Linux and open source by Bob Miller.
For Linux in particular, there is a spin-off from FAM called Gamin.
See also
- Directory Management has offered similar functionality under Windows operating systems since Windows 2000.
Individual evidence
- ^ Daniel Veillard: Gamin the File Alteration Monitor . Gnome Foundation . Retrieved April 21, 2013.