Here's a list of known "alternatives" to Guard.
The order should be: how generally feature-complete the tool is compared to Guard.
(NOTE: if you "don't like Guard" for any reason - please open an issue so we have a chance to make things better).
Feel free to add/update entries and notes/caveats/differences.
Close in functionality to Guard (config file + plugins)
File-config based with built-in execution:
- watchman - client/server arch
- gulp
- gamin
- belvedere - Windows only, seems ancient
- watch-4-folder - Windows only, seems ancient
Library + CLI:
Non-trivial CLI tools with built-in execution:
Simple CLI tools with built-in execution:
- when-changed - written in Python
- incron - Linux only, root only
- inoticoming - watches dirs
- watchfile
- when_changed - Windows only
- java-file-change-watcher
Simple watch-only scripts, no execution built in:
- inotifywait
- wait_on - for BSD
- sleep_until_modified.py
- sleep_until_modified.sh
- kqwait - for OSX
Other
- launchd - although it only watches for path changes, not content changes
- pyinotify
- unison
- jnotify
- file.monitor
- pyfilesystem
Other sources of alternatives
Intro
Installation
- System Notifications
- Terminal Colors on Windows
- Add Readline support to Ruby on Mac OS X
- Which Growl library should I use
- Efficient Filesystem Handling
Getting Started
- List of Guard Commands
- Command Line Options for Guard
- List of available Guards
- Guardfile examples
- Run Guard within RubyMine
- Guardfile-DSL / Configuring-Guard
- Configuration Files
- Interacting with Guard
- Guard Signals
Troubleshooting
Advanced use of Guard
Cookbooks
Development
This wiki and the Guard README document contains a lot of information, please take your time and read these instructions carefully.
If you run into any trouble, you may start by understanding how Guard works.
We provide detailed changes for each Guard release.
Be sure to read the CONTRIBUTING guidelines before reporting a new Guard issue or open a pull request.
If you have any questions about the Guard usage or want to share some information with the Guard community, please go to one of the following places:
- Google+ community
- Google group
- StackOverflow
- IRC channel
#guard(irc.freenode.net) for chatting