New files are not detected

[S-Stanley]

Describe the bug

We have a desktop app using electron@32.0.1. Chokidar is used to detect new file created in a specific directory. After upgrading from 3.6.0 to 4.0.0, new files are not detected 2/3 of the time.

• Updating the file when it's already created, for example updating the name of the file, make it accessible for chokidar
• Downgrading to 3.6.0 solved the issue for us

Versions (please complete the following information):

• Chokidar version 4.0.0
• Node version 16
• OS version: Window 11

To Reproduce:

1. Upgrade to chokidar@4.0.0
2. Add a new file in the directory watched

watcher = chokidar.watch("~/example-directory", {
  ignored: /(^|[/\\])\../,
  persistent: true,
  ignoreInitial: true,
});
watcher.on("add", path => {
 // this function is not triggered 2/3 times when a new file is created in the directory
})

Expected behavior

Chokidar detect the new file added in the directory watched

Additional context

Downgrading to 3.6.0 solved the issue for us

[paulmillr]

Try removing “ignored” and seeing what happens.

[S-Stanley]

Thanks for your quick answer, I feel like it's better, working 1/2 times but not everytime

[43081j]

I'll have a look when I'm next on a laptop too

The underlying logic hasn't actually changed much since 3.x other than removing glob support. So I am surprised you're seeing a difference in behaviour

[S-Stanley]

Thanks, let me know if you need more informations

I will take a look on the weekend as well

[seans84]

I'm experiencing a similar error in a Rails project as well. New JavaScript is not detected when added to any existing or new files. Old, cached assets, are being served instead.

Downgrading back to 3.6.0 solves this issue.

I did notice something strange. In my lock file I now have two references to chokidar

I'm not sure if this is the cause of the issue or not.

[DominoPivot]

This bug also affects change events when performing atomic writes, which are occasionally replaced with unlink events. 😬

This took me a while to debug, because it's my first time using chokidar and this was the output of my build script (all files were deleted, then recreated):

Starting watcher.
Removing stale files.
Running esbuild.
m out\stylesheets\style.css
m out\oranges\popover.js    
m out\oranges\popover.js.map
- out\nosdk.js
- out\nosdk.js.map
- out\sdk.js
- out\sdk.js.map
m out\oranges\popover.js.map
- out\stylesheets\style.css.map

The rebuild happened fast enough for changes to be considered atomic, but most of the writes weren't detected by chokidar. Combine that with the fact (arguably a bug) that atomic change events are fired without delay, and the fact esbuild sometimes writes to the same file twice, and you get an output that gives the impression you forgot to wait for all deletions to be done before running the build, even though you did 🙃