rsincron

An attempt to resurrect incron but in rust.

Installation

Cargo

Run cargo install rsincron.

Usage

rsincrontab

Tool to manage your watches. Usage:

rsincrontab <mode>

where mode is one of edit, list or remove.

edit

Opens a temp file with your $EDITOR (if not found defaults to /usr/bin/vi) to edit/add new rsincrons. The format used is:

<path-to-folder-or-file>  <MASKS,ATTRS>  <command-to-execute ARGS>

you can use either spaces or tabs to separate the fields. The supplied command command gets run with bash -c "$COMMAND". Lines starting with a # get treated as comment.

MASKS (paragraph courtesy of man incrontab.5)

A file/folder can be watched for following events (specify them comma separated only; no spaces or tabs )

• * IN_ACCESS; File was accessed (read)
• * IN_ATTRIB; Metadata changed (permissions, timestamps, attributes, etc..)
• * IN_CLOSE_WRITE; File opened for writing was closed
• * IN_CLOSE_NOWRITE; File not opened for writing was closed
• * IN_CREATE; File/directory created in watched directory
• * IN_DELETE; File/directory deleted from watched directory
• IN_DELETE_SELF; Watched file/directory was itself deleted
• * IN_MODIFY; File was modified
• IN_MOVE_SELF; Watched file/directory was itself moved
• * IN_MOVED_FROM; File moved out of watched directory
• * IN_MOVED_TO; File moved into watched directory
• * IN_OPEN; File was opened

events marked with an asterisk trigger, when watching a folder, for files in the watched category.

ATTRS

Specify them together with the masks, also comma separated only

• recursive=true; whether to recursively add watches in subdirectory or keep only the root one

ARGS

You can use following placeholders to pass information regarding the event to the supplied command:

• $$ -> single $
• $@ -> path being watched
• $# -> filename that triggered the event; '' if event is triggered by watched folder
• $% -> triggered event masks as text
• $& -> triggered event masks as bits

list

Lists only lines parsed lines without errors. A logfile, per default /var/log/rsincron.log will contain details about incorrect input supplied.

remove

Deletes user's rsincron.table (per default $HOME/.local/share/rsincron.table).

rsincrond

Simply run rsincrond. The program doesn't background itself.

Configuration

Both rsincrond and rsincrontab look for a configuration file located under $HOME/.config/rsincron.toml.

# Missing values from a config file default to the following
watch_table = "$HOME/.local/share/rsincron.table"
poll_time = 1000  # time [ms] between health loop iteractions

[logging]
file = "/var/log/rsincron.log" # logfile path
stdout = true # if logging has to go also to standart output
level = "warn" # loglevel <debug|info|warn|error>

health loop

Every poll_time ms the program checks in recursive=true watched folders for contained folders not having the same watch on. Adds to the active watches any inactive folders found.

Roadmap

• rsincrontab: incrontab's sibling

  • add flags for
    • recursion
    • dotdirs
  • add more verbose output

• rsincrond: the daemon itself

  • instantiate logging (somewhere has to be written which watches are working and which aren't)
  • build some sort of same flag watch if a directory is made inside a watched one (with recursion on)
    • add more flags:
      • reload table (maybe from rsincrontab)

• write every single type of test

• cleanup and reorganize code to allow more modularity

• write documentation

Currently working on

Some sort of runtime checks:

• loop checks for missed folders, if recursion is on, and adds them to the active watches
• general, configurable, logging (now it's very minimal to stdin/stderr)
• loop checks for removed folders
• better debug and info logging

About

This is a very not ready piece of software. Be ready for things not working as expected.

I don't have an ETA yet since rsincron will be worked on during my spare time. Feel free to message me for suggestions, critiques, hints or contribution questions.

Also, I neved had a public repository. If you want to share some experience on how to maintain one feel welcome to do so.

Please expect lots of bugs, rsincron isn't alpha yet. It looks closer to a proof-of-concept at the moment.

Known issues

• daemon ignores events if watched folder is deleted and recreated while running
• no recursion is available at the moment
• if started and watched folder isn't available daemon skips watch
• mkdir -p watched_dir/{1,2,3}/2/3 doesn't trigger on subfolders