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arnaud-lb/inotify
=================

Inotify bindings for PHP

3.0.1(1y ago)494828[1 issues](https://github.com/arnaud-lb/php-inotify/issues)MITCPHP >= 8.1.0

Since Feb 24Pushed 6mo ago2 watchersCompare

[ Source](https://github.com/arnaud-lb/php-inotify)[ Packagist](https://packagist.org/packages/arnaud-lb/inotify)[ RSS](/packages/arnaud-lb-inotify/feed)WikiDiscussions 3.x Synced 1mo ago

READMEChangelog (1)DependenciesVersions (2)Used By (0)

PHP Inotify
===========

[](#php-inotify)

Inotify bindings for PHP 5, PHP 7, and PHP 8

This extension exposes the inotify API and some additional functions.

Install
-------

[](#install)

### Installing with [PIE](https://github.com/php/pie)

[](#installing-with-pie)

```
pie install arnaud-lb/inotify

```

### Installing with PECL

[](#installing-with-pecl)

```
pecl install inotify

```

### Installing manually

[](#installing-manually)

Download the source and run the following commands in the source directory:

```
phpize
./configure
make
make install

```

Loading the extension
---------------------

[](#loading-the-extension)

The extension can be loaded on the command line, just for one script:

```
php -dextension=inotify.so script.php

```

Or permanently, in php.ini:

```
extension=inotify.so

```

Documentation
-------------

[](#documentation)

Documentation is available at

Goal
----

[](#goal)

The goal of this extension is to expose the raw inotify API to PHP, while being memory safe and preventing resource leaks.

Streams
-------

[](#streams)

As the C inotify API returns file descriptors, this extension returns PHP streams.

This is useful for the following reasons:

### I/O Polling

[](#io-polling)

The streams can be used with polling mechanisms such as `stream_select()` or event loops such as ReactPHP or AMPHP. It's also possible to make the streams unblocking with `stream_set_blocking()`.

### Resource management

[](#resource-management)

As the inotify file descriptors are owned by PHP streams, they are managed by PHP. This ensures that the file descriptors are eventually closed, which prevents descriptor leaks.

###  Health Score

40

—

FairBetter than 88% of packages

Maintenance57

Moderate activity, may be stable

Popularity30

Limited adoption so far

Community17

Small or concentrated contributor base

Maturity46

Maturing project, gaining track record

 Bus Factor1

Top contributor holds 77.5% of commits — single point of failure

How is this calculated?**Maintenance (25%)** — Last commit recency, latest release date, and issue-to-star ratio. Uses a 2-year decay window.

**Popularity (30%)** — Total and monthly downloads, GitHub stars, and forks. Logarithmic scaling prevents top-heavy scores.

**Community (15%)** — Contributors, dependents, forks, watchers, and maintainers. Measures real ecosystem engagement.

**Maturity (30%)** — Project age, version count, PHP version support, and release stability.

###  Release Activity

Cadence

Every ~245 days

Total

2

Last Release

194d ago

### Community

Maintainers

![](https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/7fccf26146a280cb4069b86f23fe91eeb3fbae987f25fd328606995080c0379f?d=identicon)[arnaud-lb](/maintainers/arnaud-lb)

---

Top Contributors

[![arnaud-lb](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/365207?v=4)](https://github.com/arnaud-lb "arnaud-lb (31 commits)")[![realFlowControl](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/14161194?v=4)](https://github.com/realFlowControl "realFlowControl (5 commits)")[![adoy](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/80873?v=4)](https://github.com/adoy "adoy (2 commits)")[![pierrejoye](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/282408?v=4)](https://github.com/pierrejoye "pierrejoye (1 commits)")[![remicollet](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/270445?v=4)](https://github.com/remicollet "remicollet (1 commits)")

---

Tags

inotifyphpphp-inotify

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