rattail-manual/docs/base/filemon/overview.rst

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==========
Overview
==========
Rattail File Monitor is a "service" (or "daemon") which does "one
thing" - it watches some folder(s) and when new files appear it takes
action(s) on them. It runs "forever" unless stopped, regardless of
whether anyone is currently logged onto the machine.
In many cases the "action" is just to copy (or move) the file
elsewhere, for further processing. In some cases it may be to "copy"
the file directly to a printer port, e.g. LPT1.
Sometimes the action will be to "import" and/or "process" data from
the file, updating the Rattail DB or other systems.
However the action may be anything at all. Most common actions, e.g.
copying a file to another location, are provided by way of Python
functions or classes, in other words Python code. But you can also
invoke an arbitrary command line for the action, which needn't involve
Python at all.