incrond(8) incron documentation incrond(8)
NAME
incrond - inotify cron (incron) daemon
SYNOPSIS
incrond [ -f file ] [ -n | -k ]
DESCRIPTION
The inotify cron daemon (incrond) is a daemon which monitors filesystem
events and executes commands defined in system and user tables. It's use
is generally similar to cron(8).
incrond can be started from /etc/rc, /etc/rc.local and so on. It daemo-
nizes itself (returns immediately) and doesn't need to be started with &
and through nohup(1). It can be run on foreground too.
incrond uses two categories of tables incrontab(5). System tables are
usually located in /etc/incron.d and are maintained outside of incron
(e.g. by various applications). These tables work on root rights level
and thus any file may be watched and commands are executed with root
privileges.
User tables are located in /var/spool/incron by default and have names
based on user accounts. These tables use users' access rights, thus only
files which the user may access are watched. Commands are executed with
users' privileges.
If a table (incrontab) is changed incrond reacts immediately and reloads
the table. Currently running child processes (commands) are not af-
fected.
There are two files determining whether an user is allowed to use in-
cron. These files have very simple syntax - one user name per line. If
/etc/incron.allow exists the user must be noted there to be allowed to
use incron. Otherwise if /etc/incron.deny exists the user must not be
noted there to use incron. If none of these files exists there is no
other restriction whether anybody may use incron. Location of these
files can be changed in the configuration.
The daemon itself is currently not protected against looping. If a com-
mand executed due to an event causes the same event it leads to an infi-
nite loop unless a flag mask containing loopable=true is specified.
Please beware of this and do not allow permission for use incron to un-
reliable users.
-n (or --foreground) option causes running on foreground. This is useful
especially for testing, debugging and optimization.
-k (or --kill) option terminates a running instance of incrond.
-f <FILE> (or --config=<FILE>) option specifies another location for the
configuration file (/etc/incron.conf is used by default).
Environment variables: For system tables, the default (the same as for
incrond itself) environment variable set is used. The same applies to
root's table. For non-root user tables, the whole environment is cleared
and then only these variables are set: LOGNAME, USER, USERNAME, SHELL,
HOME and PATH. The variables (except PATH) take values from the user
database (e.g. /etc/passwd). The PATH variable is set to /usr/lo-
cal/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin.
SEE ALSO
incrontab(1), incrontab(5), incron.conf(5)
BUGS
incrond is currently not resistant against looping.
AUTHOR
Andreas Altair Redmer <altair.ibn.la.ahad.sy@gmail.com> (please report
bugs to https://github.com/ar-/incron/issues ). Lukas Jelinek
<lukas@aiken.cz>.
COPYING
This program is free software. It can be used, redistributed and/or mod-
ified under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 2.
Lukas Jelinek 0.5.12 incrond(8)
Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Tue Dec 16 06:36:55 CET 2025.