Gamin 3107757 215049590 2008-05-26T13:58:40Z 217.6.168.18 Removed multiple links {{distinguish|Gamine}} '''Gamin''', a monitoring system for [[computer file|file]]s and [[directory (file systems)|directories]], independently implements a subset of FAM, the [[File alteration monitor|File Alteration Monitor]]. Running as a service, it allows for the detection of modifications to a file or directory. '''gam_server''' functions as a [[daemon (computer software)|daemon]] for Gamin. == Origins == The word ''gamin'' in French (where it also has a female form ''[[gamine]]'') refers to a boy, especially an abandoned and homeless boy who roams the streets; an urchin. The Gamin project built on an earlier project called Marmot<ref>[http://www.gnome.org/~veillard/gamin/overview.html Overview<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> (which in French means "child" or "brat"). == How it works == Under [[Linux]], Gamin uses [[inotify]] or [[dnotify]] to monitor filesystem activity. Under [[FreeBSD]], Gamin uses [[kqueue]]/[[kevent]] as the native FreeBSD kernel event notification mechanism, but in this case kqueue has one major drawback as compared to inotify: inotify is the filename-based monitoring facility and kqueue uses [[file descriptor]]s for identification of monitored files, so, under FreeBSD, gam_server has to open each file in the monitored directory. This can be an issue when monitoring directories with many files stored, because system could easily reach it's kernel limits on maximum file descriptor count (kern.maxfiles and kern.maxfilesperproc). == External links == * [http://www.gnome.org/~veillard/gamin/ The Gamin project page] == References == {{reflist}} {{Linux-stub}}