Merge fc60f8b into 2097948

README.md

@@ -167,6 +167,10 @@ instantiating the watching as chokidar discovers these file paths (before the `r
 * `followSymlinks` (default: `true`). When `false`, only the
 symlinks themselves will be watched for changes instead of following
 the link references and bubbling events through the link's path.
+* `reportErrorOnDanglingSymlinks` (default: `false`) When `followSymlinks: true`, Chokidar silently waits for paths under 
+dangling symlinks to be created. The user might instead want to confine Chokidar to wait for explicitly specified paths only. 
+When set to `true`, the dangling symlink is reported as an error instead and the absence of underlying symlinked path 
+ is ignored.
 * `cwd` (no default). The base directory from which watch `paths` are to be
 derived. Paths emitted with events will be relative to this.
 * `disableGlobbing` (default: `false`). If set to `true` then the strings passed to `.watch()` and `.add()` are treated as

index.js

@@ -287,6 +287,9 @@ constructor(_opts) {
   if (opts.atomic) this._pendingUnlinks = new Map();
 
   if (undef(opts, 'followSymlinks')) opts.followSymlinks = true;
+
+  if (undef(opts, 'reportErrorOnDanglingSymlinks')) opts.reportErrorOnDanglingSymlinks = false;
+  if (!opts.followSymlinks) opts.reportErrorOnDanglingSymlinks = false;
 
   if (undef(opts, 'awaitWriteFinish')) opts.awaitWriteFinish = false;
   if (opts.awaitWriteFinish === true) opts.awaitWriteFinish = {};
@@ -589,6 +592,21 @@ _handleError(error) {
   return error || this.closed;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Special handler for dangling symlink errors
+ * @param {Error} error
+ * @returns {Boolean} True if Dangling conditions are met
+ */
+_handleDanglingSymlinkError(error) {
+  const code = error && error.code;
+  if (error && this.options.reportErrorOnDanglingSymlinks && code === 'ENOENT') {
+    error.message = `Dangling Symlink: ${error.message}`;
+    this.emit('error', error);
+    return true;
+  }
+}
+
+
 /**
  * Helper utility for throttling
  * @param {ThrottleType} actionType type being throttled

lib/nodefs-handler.js

@@ -548,7 +548,15 @@ async _addToNodeFs(path, initialAdd, priorWh, depth, target) {
     return false;
 
   } catch (error) {
-    if (this.fsw._handleError(error)) return path;
+    if (this.fsw._handleError(error)) {
+      // If path is a symlink, test if the error is due to a dangling symlink
+      // Based on the options user might want to report it and move on
+      // (rather than having to wait for the path to be recreated)
+      if (this.fsw._symlinkPaths.has(wh.watchPath)) {
+        if (this.fsw._handleDanglingSymlinkError(error)) ready();
+      }
+      return path;
+    }
   }
 }
 

types/index.d.ts

@@ -93,6 +93,15 @@ export interface WatchOptions {
    */
   followSymlinks?: boolean;
 
+  /**
+   * When `followSymlinks: true`, Chokidar silently waits for paths under dangling symlinks to be
+   * created. The user might instead want to confine themselves to watch explicitly specified paths.
+   *
+   * If set to `true`, the dangling symlink is reported as an error and Chokidar ignores  
+   * the absence of the underlying path.
+   */
+  reportErrorOnDanglingSymlinks?: boolean;
+
   /**
    * The base directory from which watch `paths` are to be derived. Paths emitted with events will
    * be relative to this.