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Date: Sun, 28 Sep 2014 19:44:07 -0500
From: Chuck Ebbert <cebbert.lkml@gmail.com>
To: Al Viro <viro@ZenIV.linux.org.uk>
Cc: Steven Stewart-Gallus <sstewartgallus00@mylangara.bc.ca>,
        linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: Does inotify work with special files such as
 /proc/<pid>/task/<tid>/children?
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On Mon, 29 Sep 2014 00:12:40 +0100
Al Viro <viro@ZenIV.linux.org.uk> wrote:

> On Sun, Sep 28, 2014 at 11:09:50PM +0000, Steven Stewart-Gallus wrote:
> > Hello,
> > 
> > I can't seem to get inotify to work with special files such as
> > /proc/<pid>/task/<tid>/children? I just need to get a simple yes/no
> > answer on whether it works for special files or whether I have to try
> > a different approach.
> 
> Simple answer: No.  Slightly more expanded one: No, and it won't.
> Inotify does not work on procfs, sysfs, etc.  Doesn't work on
> network filesystems either.  Don't use it.  It was a mistake in the
> first place.

Why was inotify a mistake? Was it badly implemented, or is the whole
concept of userspace being able to monitor filesystem changes
basically impossible to do correctly?