FileWatcher throwing errors while trying to *watch my Firefox cache, then failing
Answered
I'm just getting started with Rider. One of the first things that happened after loading an existing non-Rider project was a set of errors related to file watching:
2025-10-03 01:44:51,928 [15886733] INFO - #c.i.o.v.i.l.NativeFileWatcherImpl - Starting file watcher: /opt/jetbrains-rider/JetBrains Rider-2025.2.2.1/bin/fsnotifier
2025-10-03 02:14:54,695 [17689500] WARN - #c.i.o.v.i.l.NativeFileWatcherImpl - table error: collision at 464135 (new /home/dpk/.cache/mozilla/firefox/5uol7gj4.default-release/safebrowsing, existing /home/dpk/.cache/mozilla/firefox/5uol7gj4.default-release/safebrowsing-updating)
2025-10-03 02:14:55,191 [17689996] WARN - #c.i.o.v.i.l.NativeFileWatcherImpl - Watcher terminated with exit code 3
2025-10-03 02:14:55,191 [17689996] WARN - #c.i.o.v.i.l.FileWatcher - File watcher failed repeatedly and has been disabledI don't understand the specific error – it sort of looks like it's complaining about two directories being the same. The `-updating` directory does not exist currently, FWIW.
Anyway, I am surprised that Rider needs to watch my Firefox cache – there's some potentially sensitive stuff there and it leads me to wonder what other files it's looking at. How do I get Rider's fsnotifier to only look at project files and possibly other specific directories? I suspect that would fix the crashing, at least.
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Dpk could you collect and send us your Rider logs (Help→Collect Logs and Diagnostic Data) and clarify what you mean by “existing non-Rider project” - a project that was created outside of Rider or non-.NET project (pure JS, TS, etc.)?
You can send us the logs via the Upload Service and let us know the Upload ID in this thread.
Sure, I've uploaded the zip: 2025_10_05_VMVHvixHFG6uygzWNJ5Uan
By existing non-Rider project I mean the project was originally created in Visual Studio Code using Unreal Engine's generate project files method. I'm not sure if it matters, I tried to remove its files before opening the project in Rider. In any case, I didn't tell Rider to import anything from VSCode, so it may be wholly unrelated.
Hello,
The issue you’re encountering is likely caused by the IDE scanning files outside the intended project scope. This can occur if a folder containing unexpected files or symbolic links is opened as a project.
For example, opening the root directory (
/on Unix-like systems orC:\on Windows) will cause the IDE to attempt indexing the entire file system, including system and cache files. To prevent this, please ensure that only the specific project folder is opened in Rider.After adjusting the project directory, please invalidate the IDE cache to refresh all indices:
This behavior is also tracked in YouTrack under the following issue:
IJPL-2176 – File watcher collision on duplicate directories
We recommend voting for this ticket to help prioritize its resolution.
Please let us know if you have any further questions or if the issue persists after these steps.
I checked, I don't have any symlinks in my project or UE install (`find . -type l` returned nothing), and certainly no links to my Firefox cache directory. I voted for that item and will watch for updates.