[Bug 879902] [NEW] Increase the number of inotify watches

[Mathieu Comandon]

Public bug reported:

Many of the problems I encountered seem to be related to a single issue : the maximum number of watches inotify is able to handle. 
I have found that the default maximum number of watches is way to low too handle every feature using inotify, a default Ubuntu uses a great number of watches out of the box and in Natty and Oneiric is starts to be a real problem.

Possible effects are : 
- Ubuntu One not syncing correctly
- Nautilus not updating itself when a file is created or deleted.
- Audio players not updating music libraries
- tail -f or other programs using inotify show a cryptic message about no space being left on the device (while there's plenty of space)

I have found that simply doubling the maximum of watches *is not enough*
for a normal use, and if I believe this comment :
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/beagle/+bug/115801/comments/4
there is no problem to setting the number of watches to a high value.
My current setting is 524288, which is 64 times the default value, It
may be too high for a default value but I believe that 65536 or 131072
should be enough for almost everyone.

If Precise Pangolin wants to be predictable, this issues *has* to be
addressed.

** Affects: procps (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: precise

** Tags added: precise

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/879902

Title:
  Increase the number of inotify watches

Status in “procps” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  Many of the problems I encountered seem to be related to a single issue : the maximum number of watches inotify is able to handle. 
  I have found that the default maximum number of watches is way to low too handle every feature using inotify, a default Ubuntu uses a great number of watches out of the box and in Natty and Oneiric is starts to be a real problem.

  Possible effects are : 
  - Ubuntu One not syncing correctly
  - Nautilus not updating itself when a file is created or deleted.
  - Audio players not updating music libraries
  - tail -f or other programs using inotify show a cryptic message about no space being left on the device (while there's plenty of space)

  I have found that simply doubling the maximum of watches *is not
  enough* for a normal use, and if I believe this comment :
  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/beagle/+bug/115801/comments/4
  there is no problem to setting the number of watches to a high value.
  My current setting is 524288, which is 64 times the default value, It
  may be too high for a default value but I believe that 65536 or 131072
  should be enough for almost everyone.

  If Precise Pangolin wants to be predictable, this issues *has* to be
  addressed.

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