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Alexandre Calaça
Alexandre Calaça

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Error: Unable to monitor directories for changes because iNotify max watches exceeded

#ubuntu #linux #development #tutorial

Error 

 Unable to monitor directories for changes because iNotify max watches exceeded
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Context

I got the error after using the following command

rails generate migration addCommentsToProducts
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OUtput

Image Context

Solution

As the error message says, in order to solve the issue of inotify max watches being exceeded on Ubuntu, we can increase the number of inotify watchers.

Open a terminal

check the current value of inotify watchers with: 

cat /proc/sys/fs/inotify/max_user_watches
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Output

Image check the current value of inotify watchers

Increase the number of watches 

sudo sysctl fs.inotify.max_user_watches=524288
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OUtput

Image Increase the number of watches

Make the change permanent 

echo 'fs.inotify.max_user_watches=524288' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
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Output

Image Make the change permanent

Apply changes 

sudo sysctl -p
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Output

Image Apply changes

Try again

Now, you should be able to use the Rails generator or your command without encountering the inotify error.

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Output

Image Try again

Done

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