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What I want to do is something like this:

inotifywait -m ./input -e close_write -e moved_to |
    parallel --max-args 1 "someSlowSingleThreadedTaskThatActsOnThisFile"

I can't imagine that that would work as-is (it doesn't seem to). I assume parallel has to be given all of its inputs at the start, before it begins running. Therefore my question is this: Is there a way that I could add more inputs to parallel as it's already going? I imagine the inputs as a pool of work, and it just processes that pool as fast as possible, using the maximum sensible number of threads for the current system. What I want to do is add to that pool while it's still going.

How can I continuously feed parallel with more inputs as it's running (specifically, as more files are added to the folder)? Alternatively, if parallel isn't a good choice for this task, what is?

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How about using the entr command you supply entr a file or list of files and then whenever a change to that file is made it runs an arbitrary command. Would this help I use it to rebuild previews and projects automatically when the files are changed. I don't see why you couldn't use parallel with it.

Jason C.

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  • This is what inotifywait already does. The issue is not finding a way to run a command when the directory changes, but rather finding a way to process those files in parallel while still being able to add to the "pool" of files left to be processed.
    – Clonkex
    Feb 22, 2021 at 3:10

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