Re: [PATCH] elisp manual patch: add to file notification documentation

[Michael Albinus]

Stefan Kangas <stefankangas@gmail.com> writes:

>> It's not that simple. Emacs might be compiled with file notification,
>> but it isn't possible for remote files. Emacs might be compiled without
>> file notification, but it is still possible for remote files.
>>
>> And even if it is possible for local or remote files, it might not work
>> on NFS mounted file systems.
>>
>> The value of file-notify--library is a vague approximation for being
>> able to use file notifications. That's the reason for being an internal
>> constant only.
>>
>> Calling file-notify-add-watch gives you more precise results.
>
> Would it make sense to add something like the above to the docstring of
> `file-notify--library'?

After all, it's an internal constant. And it is about the local file
notification library only.

If you want to go into dirty details, you must even apply much more
analysis, in order to understand its behavior. gio, for example,
supports different backends, which behave differently.

See for example the functions file-notify--test-library and
file-notify--test-monitor in filenotify-tests.el. They are not perfect,
but good for now.

If we want to extend the documentation with this information, the manual
node "(elisp) File Notifications" would be the better place. But I'm not
sure whether this is of general interest.

Best regards, Michael.