fs: add .ref() and .unref() methods to the StatWatcher and FSWatcher

doc/api/fs.md

@@ -579,6 +579,72 @@ added: v0.5.8
 Stop watching for changes on the given `fs.FSWatcher`. Once stopped, the
 `fs.FSWatcher` object is no longer usable.
 
+### `watcher.ref()`
+<!-- YAML
+added: REPLACEME
+-->
+
+* Returns: {fs.FSWatcher}
+
+When called, requests that the Node.js event loop *not* exit so long as the
+`FSWatcher` is active. Calling `watcher.ref()` multiple times will have
+no effect.
+
+By default, all `FSWatcher` objects are "ref'ed", making it normally
+unnecessary to call `watcher.ref()` unless `watcher.unref()` had been
+called previously.
+
+### `watcher.unref()`
+<!-- YAML
+added: REPLACEME
+-->
+
+* Returns: {fs.FSWatcher}
+
+When called, the active `FSWatcher` object will not require the Node.js
+event loop to remain active. If there is no other activity keeping the
+event loop running, the process may exit before the `FSWatcher` object's
+callback is invoked. Calling `watcher.unref()` multiple times will have
+no effect.
+
+## Class: `fs.StatWatcher`
+<!-- YAML
+added: REPLACEME
+-->
+
+* Extends {EventEmitter}
+
+A successful call to `fs.watchFile()` method will return a new `fs.StatWatcher`
+object.
+
+### `watcher.ref()`
+<!-- YAML
+added: REPLACEME
+-->
+
+* Returns: {fs.StatWatcher}
+
+When called, requests that the Node.js event loop *not* exit so long as the
+`StatWatcher` is active. Calling `watcher.ref()` multiple times will have
+no effect.
+
+By default, all `StatWatcher` objects are "ref'ed", making it normally
+unnecessary to call `watcher.ref()` unless `watcher.unref()` had been
+called previously.
+
+### `watcher.unref()`
+<!-- YAML
+added: REPLACEME
+-->
+
+* Returns: {fs.StatWatcher}
+
+When called, the active `StatWatcher` object will not require the Node.js
+event loop to remain active. If there is no other activity keeping the
+event loop running, the process may exit before the `StatWatcher` object's
+callback is invoked. Calling `watcher.unref()` multiple times will have
+no effect.
+
 ## Class: `fs.ReadStream`
 <!-- YAML
 added: v0.1.93
@@ -3958,6 +4024,7 @@ changes:
 * `listener` {Function}
   * `current` {fs.Stats}
   * `previous` {fs.Stats}
+* Returns: {fs.StatWatcher}
 
 Watch for changes on `filename`. The callback `listener` will be called each
 time the file is accessed.

lib/fs.js

@@ -1489,6 +1489,8 @@ function watchFile(filename, options, listener) {
     stat[watchers.kFSStatWatcherStart](filename,
                                        options.persistent, options.interval);
     statWatchers.set(filename, stat);
+  } else {
+    stat[watchers.kFSStatWatcherAddOrCleanRef]('add');
   }
 
   stat.addListener('change', listener);
@@ -1503,9 +1505,13 @@ function unwatchFile(filename, listener) {
   if (stat === undefined) return;
 
   if (typeof listener === 'function') {
+    const beforeListenerCount = stat.listenerCount('change');
     stat.removeListener('change', listener);
+    if (stat.listenerCount('change') < beforeListenerCount)
+      stat[watchers.kFSStatWatcherAddOrCleanRef]('clean');
   } else {
     stat.removeAllListeners('change');
+    stat[watchers.kFSStatWatcherAddOrCleanRef]('cleanAll');
   }
 
   if (stat.listenerCount('change') === 0) {

lib/internal/fs/watchers.js

@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ const kUseBigint = Symbol('kUseBigint');
 
 const kFSWatchStart = Symbol('kFSWatchStart');
 const kFSStatWatcherStart = Symbol('kFSStatWatcherStart');
+const KFSStatWatcherRefCount = Symbol('KFSStatWatcherRefCount');
+const KFSStatWatcherMaxRefCount = Symbol('KFSStatWatcherMaxRefCount');
+const kFSStatWatcherAddOrCleanRef = Symbol('kFSStatWatcherAddOrCleanRef');
 
 function emitStop(self) {
   self.emit('stop');
@@ -42,6 +45,8 @@ function StatWatcher(bigint) {
   this._handle = null;
   this[kOldStatus] = -1;
   this[kUseBigint] = bigint;
+  this[KFSStatWatcherRefCount] = 1;
+  this[KFSStatWatcherMaxRefCount] = 1;
 }
 ObjectSetPrototypeOf(StatWatcher.prototype, EventEmitter.prototype);
 ObjectSetPrototypeOf(StatWatcher, EventEmitter);
@@ -75,7 +80,7 @@ StatWatcher.prototype[kFSStatWatcherStart] = function(filename,
   this._handle[owner_symbol] = this;
   this._handle.onchange = onchange;
   if (!persistent)
-    this._handle.unref();
+    this.unref();
 
   // uv_fs_poll is a little more powerful than ev_stat but we curb it for
   // the sake of backwards compatibility.
@@ -117,6 +122,41 @@ StatWatcher.prototype.stop = function() {
   this._handle = null;
 };
 
+// Clean up or add ref counters.
+StatWatcher.prototype[kFSStatWatcherAddOrCleanRef] = function(operate) {
+  if (operate === 'add') {
+    // Add a Ref
+    this[KFSStatWatcherRefCount]++;
+    this[KFSStatWatcherMaxRefCount]++;
+  } else if (operate === 'clean') {
+    // Clean up a single
+    this[KFSStatWatcherMaxRefCount]--;
+    this.unref();
+  } else if (operate === 'cleanAll') {
+    // Clean up all
+    this[KFSStatWatcherMaxRefCount] = 0;
+    this[KFSStatWatcherRefCount] = 0;
+    this._handle && this._handle.unref();
+  }
+};
+
+StatWatcher.prototype.ref = function() {
+  // Avoid refCount calling ref multiple times causing unref to have no effect.
+  if (this[KFSStatWatcherRefCount] === this[KFSStatWatcherMaxRefCount])
+    return this;
+  if (this._handle && this[KFSStatWatcherRefCount]++ === 0)
+    this._handle.ref();
+  return this;
+};
+
+StatWatcher.prototype.unref = function() {
+  // Avoid refCount calling unref multiple times causing ref to have no effect.
+  if (this[KFSStatWatcherRefCount] === 0) return this;
+  if (this._handle && --this[KFSStatWatcherRefCount] === 0)
+    this._handle.unref();
+  return this;
+};
+
 
 function FSWatcher() {
   EventEmitter.call(this);
@@ -208,6 +248,16 @@ FSWatcher.prototype.close = function() {
   process.nextTick(emitCloseNT, this);
 };
 
+FSWatcher.prototype.ref = function() {
+  if (this._handle) this._handle.ref();
+  return this;
+};
+
+FSWatcher.prototype.unref = function() {
+  if (this._handle) this._handle.unref();
+  return this;
+};
+
 function emitCloseNT(self) {
   self.emit('close');
 }
@@ -223,5 +273,6 @@ module.exports = {
   FSWatcher,
   StatWatcher,
   kFSWatchStart,
-  kFSStatWatcherStart
+  kFSStatWatcherStart,
+  kFSStatWatcherAddOrCleanRef,
 };

src/fs_event_wrap.cc

@@ -101,9 +101,8 @@ void FSEventWrap::Initialize(Local<Object> target,
       FSEventWrap::kInternalFieldCount);
   t->SetClassName(fsevent_string);
 
-  t->Inherit(AsyncWrap::GetConstructorTemplate(env));
+  t->Inherit(HandleWrap::GetConstructorTemplate(env));
   env->SetProtoMethod(t, "start", Start);
-  env->SetProtoMethod(t, "close", Close);
 
   Local<FunctionTemplate> get_initialized_templ =
       FunctionTemplate::New(env->isolate(),

test/parallel/test-fs-watch-ref-unref.js

@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+'use strict';
+
+const common = require('../common');
+
+if (common.isIBMi)
+  common.skip('IBMi does not support `fs.watch()`');
+
+const fs = require('fs');
+
+const watcher = fs.watch(__filename, common.mustNotCall());
+
+watcher.unref();
+
+setTimeout(
+  common.mustCall(() => {
+    watcher.ref();
+    watcher.unref();
+  }),
+  common.platformTimeout(100)
+);

test/parallel/test-fs-watchfile-ref-unref.js

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+'use strict';
+
+const common = require('../common');
+
+const fs = require('fs');
+const assert = require('assert');
+
+const uncalledListener = common.mustNotCall();
+const uncalledListener2 = common.mustNotCall();
+const watcher = fs.watchFile(__filename, uncalledListener);
+
+watcher.unref();
+watcher.unref();
+watcher.ref();
+watcher.unref();
+watcher.ref();
+watcher.ref();
+watcher.unref();
+
+fs.unwatchFile(__filename, uncalledListener);
+
+// Watch the file with two different listeners.
+fs.watchFile(__filename, uncalledListener);
+const watcher2 = fs.watchFile(__filename, uncalledListener2);
+
+setTimeout(
+  common.mustCall(() => {
+    fs.unwatchFile(__filename, common.mustNotCall());
+    assert.strictEqual(watcher2.listenerCount('change'), 2);
+    fs.unwatchFile(__filename, uncalledListener);
+    assert.strictEqual(watcher2.listenerCount('change'), 1);
+    watcher2.unref();
+  }),
+  common.platformTimeout(100)
+);

tools/doc/type-parser.js

@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ const customTypesMap = {
   'fs.FSWatcher': 'fs.html#fs_class_fs_fswatcher',
   'fs.ReadStream': 'fs.html#fs_class_fs_readstream',
   'fs.Stats': 'fs.html#fs_class_fs_stats',
+  'fs.StatWatcher': 'fs.html#fs_class_fs_statwatcher',
   'fs.WriteStream': 'fs.html#fs_class_fs_writestream',
 
   'http.Agent': 'http.html#http_class_http_agent',