How to run a script when a directory is changed by another user?

Using inoticoming:

You can put a script in /etc/init.d/ that runs inoticoming at boot time.

1. Create a new folder to hold the inoticoming log / last pid for the watched folder: sudo mkdir -p /var/log/inoticoming/watched/

2. Create a script inoticoming_watched in /etc/init.d/:

_{* Remember to change <path_to_folder> and <path_to_script> to match the full path of the watched folder and the full path of the script to execute}

#!/bin/sh

case "${1}" in
    start)
        inoticoming --logfile '/var/log/inoticoming/watched/inoticoming.log' --pid-file '/var/log/inoticoming/watched/inoticoming_last_pid.txt' <path_to_folder> <path_to_script> \;
    ;;

    stop)
        kill -15 $(< /var/log/inoticoming/watched/inoticoming_last_pid.txt tee)
    ;;

    restart)
        ${0} stop
        sleep 1
        ${0} start
    ;;

    *)
    echo "Usage: ${0} {start|stop|restart}"
    exit 1
    ;;
esac

3. Mark the script as executable: sudo chmod u+x /etc/init.d/inoticoming_watched

4. Make sure that the script called by inoticoming_watched is executable.

5. Update rc.d to make the service inoticoming_watched start at boot time: sudo update-rc.d inoticoming_watched defaults

You can check the inoticoming log in /var/log/inoticoming/watched.

First of all, install inoticoming:

sudo apt-get install inoticoming

Then use this command:

Pay attention to ongoing processes of inoticoming, because they can be started multiple times.

$ inoticoming /home/user1/watched /usr/local/bin/syncbh.sh /home/user1/watched/{} \;
              ^                   ^                        ^
              |                   |                        |
              ^-- The directory to be monitored            |
                                  |                        |
                                  ^-- Your script          |
                                                           ^-- The parameter for your script

• The process runs in backgound and is watching /home/user1/watched

• When a file is added or changed in that directory, the script /usr/local/bin/syncbh.sh is called.

  • The parameter for this script is in this case /home/user1/watched/<name_of_changed_or_modified_file>

  • {} is replaced by the filename