0 Why Guard?
Rémy Coutable редактировал(а) эту страницу 2015-07-18 16:17:06 +02:00

Here are problems Guard helps avoid (compared to other scripts or tools like inotify-wait):

1. Easier to run, manage and extend/maintain:

  • just generate and edit a Guardfile (once) and run guard
  • nice, readable DSL for setting complex rules
  • in Ruby
  • simple example templates are generated for you
  • well documented, lots of simple examples
  • fantastic community support (just file an issue and see...)
  • built in support for logging and notification (Growl, etc.)

2. more efficient:

  • allows efficiently talking with servers (connect once on startup, then make request every change)
  • scans large directories only once on startup
  • no "sleep" code needed - changes can happen either immediately, or they can be "accumulated" and "compressed" (to avoid running the command too frequently)

3. more robust and "correct":

  • properly handled cases when files are changed while the command is running
  • no inotifywait/inotifywatch errors to deal with
  • watches the files directory, so it supports file adding, renames (which is what editors do - they rarely just "modify" a file in place)
  • interactive console to rerun, simulate and debug events
  • Guard itself reloads when you change its configuration
  • single instance of Guard can handle many directories (instead of running many unmanageable "instances" of inotify_wait scripts running)
  • more than 7 million gem downloads and almost no open issues
  • handles moving whole files and directories

4. more portable:

  • supports multiple platforms (Linux, OSX, BSD, Windows)
  • supports multiple backends (inotify, kqueue, polling)
  • polling for network drives and VM shared dirs (which don't support inotify)