File Alteration Monitor - Gamin a FAM replacement
http://www.gnome.org/~veillard/gamin/
http://www.gnome.org/~veillard/gamin/sources/
******  EXAMPLE NOT COMPLETE *****

Working with fam  - file alteration monitor.  Mail uses this to signify
a change in a file's status.

Below is the sample C program ftest.c which can be compiled as
follows:

$ gcc -o ftest ftest.c  -lfam

You will need to work with this as root

#  ./ftest <somefile absolute path>


Reference:
http://techpubs.sgi.com/library/tpl/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?db=man&fname=/usr/share/catman/p_man/cat3x/fam.z
http://www.devchannel.org/devtoolschannel/04/05/13/2146252.shtml