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Update inotify docs #992

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Update inotify docs
da5nsy Feb 27, 2026
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switch markdown to rst formatting
da5nsy Feb 27, 2026
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9 changes: 7 additions & 2 deletions users/faq-parts/usage.rst
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Expand Up @@ -243,8 +243,13 @@ the filesystem watcher on linux:
Failed to start filesystem watcher for folder yourLabel (yourID): failed to
set up inotify handler. Please increase inotify limits, see https://docs.syncthing.net/users/faq.html#inotify-limits

Linux typically restricts the number of watches per user (usually 8192). If
you have many directories, you will need to adjust that number.
Linux typically restricts the number of watches per user (usually 8192).
If you have many directories (including subdirectories), you will need to adjust
that number. Note that the many other services use inotify watches - even if you
are not watching a particularly large number of directories through Syncthing,
you still may hit this limit due to use by other programs.
There are `tools available <https://stackoverflow.com/a/60705427/>`__ which allow
a user to quickly see how many watches are being used and by which processes.

On many Linux distributions you can run the following to fix it::

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