Can iNotify tell me where a monitored file is moved?

Question

I want to monitor a file while it's moving in the system. Can iNotify tell me its new position whenever it's moves?

Answer 1

If you're watching both the directory the file was moved from, and the directory the file was moved to, then you will receive an IN_MOVED_FROM event on the source directory and an IN_MOVED_TO event on the target directory, both with the same cookie. You can then use the name fields of the two events to find out where the file was moved to and from.

If you're only watching the source directory, or only the target directory, then you will only get one of the events, so you will only have half of the info. This is a limitation of inotify.