Metadata-Version: 1.0
Name: MacFSEvents
Version: 0.2
Summary: Thread-based interface to file system observation primitives.
Home-page: UNKNOWN
Author: Malthe Borch
Author-email: mborch@gmail.com
License: BSD
Description: .. contents::
        
        Overview
        ========
        
        .. role:: mod(emphasis)
        
        :mod:`MacFSEvents` is a Python library that provides thread-safe
        directory observation primitives using callbacks. It wraps the Mac OS
        X ``FSEvents`` API in a C-extension.
        
        Requirements:
        
        - Mac OS X 10.5+ (Leopard)
        
        This software was written by Malthe Borch <mborch@gmail.com>. The
        :mod:`pyfsevents` module by Nicolas Dumazet was used for reference.
        
        Why?
        ----
        
        At this time of writing there are three other libraries that integrate
        with the ``FSEvents`` API:
        
        **pyobjc-framework-FSEvents**
        
        These use the PyObjC bridge infrastructure which most applications
        do not need.
        
        **pyfsevents**
        
        Not thread-safe (API is not designed to support it).
        
        **fsevents**
        
        Obsolete bindings to the socket API by John Sutherland.
        
        These issues have been addressed in :mod:`MacFSEvents`. The library
        provides a clean API and has full test coverage.
        
        Note that :mod:`pyfsevents` has bindings to the file descriptor
        observation primitives. This is not currently implemented by the
        present library.
        
        License
        -------
        
        Made available as-is under the BSD License.
        
        Usage
        =====
        
        To observe a directory structure (recursively) under ``path``, we set
        up an observer thread and schedule an event stream::
        
        from fsevents import Observer
        observer = Observer()
        observer.start()
        
        def callback(subpath, mask):
        ...
        
        from fsevents import Stream
        stream = Stream(callback, path)
        observer.schedule(stream)
        
        Streams can observe any number of paths; simply pass them as
        positional arguments (or using the ``*`` operator)::
        
        stream = Stream(callback, *paths)
        
        To start the observer in its own thread, use the ``start`` method::
        
        observer.starts()
        
        To start the observer in the current thread, use the ``run`` method
        (it will block the thread until stopped from another thread)::
        
        observer.run()
        
        The callback function will be called when an event occurs. The
        ``subpath`` parameter contains the path at which the event happened (may
        be a subdirectory) while ``mask`` parameter is the event mask [#]_.
        
        To stop observation, simply unschedule the stream and stop the
        observer::
        
        observer.unschedule(stream)
        observer.stop()
        
        While the observer thread will automatically join your main thread at
        this point, it doesn't hurt to be explicit about this::
        
        observer.join()
        
        We often want to know about events on a file level; to receive file
        events instead of path events, pass in ``file_events=True`` to the
        stream constructor::
        
        def callback(event):
        ...
        
        stream = Stream(callback, path, file_events=True)
        
        The event object mimick the file events of the ``inotify`` kernel
        extension available in newer linux kernels. It has the following
        attributes:
        
        ``mask``
        The mask field is a bitmask representing the event that occurred.
        
        ``cookie``
        The cookie field is a unique identifier linking together two related but separate events. It is used to link together an ``IN_MOVED_FROM`` and an ``IN_MOVED_TO`` event.
        
        ``name``
        The name field contains the name of the object to which the event occurred. This is the absolute filename.
        
        Note that the logic to implement file events is implemented in Python;
        a snapshot of the observed file system hierarchies is maintained and
        used to monitor file events.
        
        .. [#] See `FSEventStreamEventFlags <http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/Darwin/Reference/FSEvents_Ref/FSEvents_h/index.html#//apple_ref/c/tag/FSEventStreamEventFlags>`_ for a reference. To check for a particular mask, use the *bitwise and* operator ``&``.
        
        
        Changelog
        =========
        
        0.2 (2010-04-26)
        ----------------
        
        - Fixed issue where existing directories would be reported along with
        a newly created one [marcboeker].
        
        - Added support for file event monitoring.
        
        - Fixed reference counting bug which could result in a segmentation
        fault.
        
        0.1 (2009-11-27)
        ----------------
        
        - Initial public release.
        
Platform: Mac OS X
Classifier: Development Status :: 4 - Beta
Classifier: Intended Audience :: Developers
Classifier: License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License
Classifier: Operating System :: MacOS :: MacOS X
Classifier: Programming Language :: C
Classifier: Programming Language :: Python :: 2.5
Classifier: Topic :: Software Development :: Libraries :: Python Modules
Classifier: Topic :: System :: Filesystems
