Update inotify max user watches

On Linux, inotify provides a mechanism for monitoring file system events1. Each call to the API is a “watch”, which corresponds to one watched file or directory. The common max watch value was $$8 \times 1024 = 8192$$, but on more recent version of the Linux kernel, the value is dynamically generated to use no more than 1% of addressable memory within the range [8192, 1048576]2.

Pop!_OS uses the kernel version 5.11, which first include this mechanism. But for some reason my number of inotify was way lower than 1% of my total memory.

Fortunately, the maximum number of watches can be manually updated. Any number in the given range set in the Linux kernel above is likely good enough. I like to use a number between 1% to 4%3 of my total memory. I also like it to be a number divisible by 1024 but this is just personal preference.

The total memory can be found using the vmstat -s command.

To test the new number, one can use the following command:

sudo sysctl -w fs.inotify.max_user_watches=162816

The command above is for testing purpose, as after a reboot the value will be lost.

After much test, the new number should preferably be committed inside a /etc/sysctl.d/90-override.conf file (as is recommended by /usr/lib/sysctl.d/50-default.conf).

Rebooting or using sudo sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.d/90-override.conf will load the new value.