Re: automatic dired update

[Paul R]

>> Does anyone know how to make dired auto-refresh? For example, i have
>> a dired buffer of dir xyz buried somewhere. Then, i renamed some
>> files in OS's Desktop. Then, when i switch to dir xyz in emacs,
>> i wish to see the updated list without me having to type g to
>> refresh. originally i thought just some hook... something like
>> (add-hook 'dired-load-hook 'revert-buffer)
>> 
>> but when actually trying to do it, apparently not that simple.
>> I thought it must be some function or variable that tells me when
>> buffer display is switched or updated... can't locate it.

Drew> Good question. To use a hook to call `dired-revert', you need to
Drew> find a hook that represents the "change" in interaction state that
Drew> you make when you "switch" to the dired buffer. I'm not sure what
Drew> hook that might be.

That would only work if the dired buffer is not currently displayed when
the change happen.

I think a real solution would be to use FS notifications systems. I know
of inotify ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inotify ) for linux but
I suspect such systems exist for most widely used systems. That would be
a very good addition to emacs.

Drew> You could use a timer or, say, `display-time-hook' to do it
Drew> periodically, but that's a sledge hammer.

As a temporary solution, a combination of :
 - refresh display on "buffer gets diplayed" event
and
 - refresh diplay every N seconds if buffer is already displayed
could provide the wanted effect.

Anybody aware of inotify-and-the-likes integration effort to emacs ?

-- 
  Paul