.. _param-imfile-mode:
.. _imfile.parameter.module.mode:
.. _imfile.parameter.mode:

Mode
====

.. index::
   single: imfile; Mode
   single: Mode

.. summary-start

Selects `inotify`, `polling`, or `fen` mode for file monitoring.

.. summary-end

This parameter applies to :doc:`../../configuration/modules/imfile`.

:Name: Mode
:Scope: module
:Type: word
:Default: module=inotify
:Required?: no
:Introduced: 8.1.5

Description
-----------
This specifies if imfile shall run in inotify ("inotify") or polling ("polling")
mode. Traditionally, imfile used polling mode, which is much more
resource-intense (and slower) than inotify mode. It is suggested that users
turn on "polling" mode only if they experience strange problems in inotify
mode. In theory, there should never be a reason to enable "polling" mode and
later versions will most probably remove it.

If a legacy "$ModLoad" statement is used, the default is *polling*. This
default was kept to prevent problems with old configurations. It might change
in the future.

On Solaris, the FEN API is used instead of INOTIFY. You can set the mode to
fen or inotify (which is automatically mapped to fen on Solaris OS). Please
note that the FEN is limited compared to INOTIFY. Deep wildcard matches may
not work because of the API limits for now.

Module usage
------------
.. _param-imfile-module-mode:
.. _imfile.parameter.module.mode-usage:

.. code-block:: rsyslog

   module(load="imfile" Mode="inotify")

Notes
-----
- Solaris uses the FEN API; deep wildcard matches may fail.

See also
--------
See also :doc:`../../configuration/modules/imfile`.