The GUI doesn't update with changes

[fstackgeek]

Setup: Ubuntu 23.04

The GUI doesn't update when a file changes, or even when I do something inside the app itself. For example, when I drag a file to a new virtual branch, it doesn't do anything until I reload the window, then it shows the new branch. And this is true for creating, editing, or deleting virtual branches. But moving the branches (lanes) works fine.

I love the thinking behind GB, and I have wanted these features for so long, so I'm very eager to be able to use it.

Thank you all

[mtsgrd]

Sounds like it could be a problem with the file watcher. Would you mind taking a look in the logs to see if anything stands out? https://docs.gitbutler.com/development/debugging

[jboardman367]

I have the same behavior with 0.10.17 on ubuntu 22.04, and it does seem to relate to the file watcher.

2024-02-26T01:47:03.309333Z ERROR gitbutler-app/src/watcher.rs:72: watcher error error=Other(failed to run dispatcher

Caused by:
    0: failed to run file change dispatcher
    1: failed to start watcher
    2: OS file watch limit reached. about ["/home/.../node_modules/..."]) project_id=226e2f94-8623-46e8-b5d3-65db2909bd5a
2024-02-26T01:47:04.135593Z ERROR fetch_from_target: gitbutler-app/src/virtual_branches/commands.rs:653: error=failed to post event

When I remove the repo that caused the error and opened the gitbutler repo instead, the drag and drop worked.

It would be nice if the file watcher respected .gitignore so that it doesn't try to watch the entirity of something like a node_modules.

Edit: There seems to be an issue already for not watching files in the .gitignore https://github.com/gitbutlerapp/gitbutler/issues/2798

[Byron]

Thanks for looking into this, knowing that the watcher failed as it's a constrained system resource is very helpful!

As of the latest Version 0.11.3 (20240419.070253) or newer, the watcher has been overhauled, and I'd expect failures to watch a directory to become visible in the user interface now. That way, the UI should not even get into the unresponsive state described here.

Would you be able to try again?

[jboardman367]

Thanks for the update, I have tried the repo that I was originally having problems with and it works beautifully now. I see no errors relating to file watching and everything appears to be in working order.

[Byron]

Thats great to hear :)!

Since @fstackgeek is on Ubuntu 23.04, maybe this issue can't be closed just yet until we heard back from them.

[fstackgeek]

@Byron Thank you for your response. I will test this as soon as possible, and get back to you. Although now I am on Ubuntu 23.10

[Qix-]

Hey, yeah we've had some significant improvements to the file watching situation over the last few weeks and months. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that these sorts of issues are probably fixed by now. Trying to clean up the tracker a bit so I'll close this for now - however if you're still facing issues with it please comment here and I'll open it back up again!

Thanks for the report :)