Noticing changes in files

[borysj]

I've noticed that XFCE is very good at noticing changes in files.

• Thunar updates the folder window immediately if I do some changes to the files from within a terminal.
• Evince updates the PDF file immediately if I export it anew from markdown.

This is a feature that really helps with my work flow, and something that Windows was quite bad at. I was wondering, is it a feature of FreeBSD, of *nix, or maybe the way XFCE specifically was designed? Do other DEs understand changing files as well?

 

[cracauer@]

kqueue(2) offers functionality for this, without having to resort to high frequency polling.

 

[SirDice]

Most of these tools stem from Linux and typically use inotify. On FreeBSD there's a 'stub' library devel/libinotify for this, it translates Linux' inotify to kqueue(2).

 

[Cath O'Deray]

Do other DEs understand changing files as well?

I have good experiences with various applications on/in Plasma.