Slow start on Windows 7 for big folders (even on SSD)

[jakub-g]

We use grunt watch in our project with a config like this:

  grunt.initConfig({
    watch: {
      sync: {
        files: ['src/folder1/**', 'src/folder2/**', 'src/folder3/**'],
        tasks: ['sync'],
        options: {
          debounceDelay: 250
        }
      }
   ...

  grunt.registerTask('default', ['watch:sync']);

Those 3 folders amount to ~3000 files.

When I run grunt, it immediately prints that it's watching/waiting:

$ grunt
Running "watch:sync" (watch) task
Waiting...

but in fact, it doesn't "see" the changed files for at least first 10-15 seconds after startup. I.e. I change some files, but the change is not detected and the callback is not fired. It starts being notified about file changes only after some 10-15 seconds from startup.

The folder is located on an SSD drive.

Is this a known issue?
Is this a limitation of Windows?

[jakub-g]

So the problem about "Waiting..." being displayed too early is related to #332 - it's displayed immediately instead of when ready callback is fired by gaze.

The fact about long startup time is linked to the number of files watched. Globbing itself takes only about 1.5 seconds, but it's probably on adding listeners phase when it's so slow, and probably linear with the number of files being watched.

To improve perf, I've done this:

1. list explicitly files I am interested in, i.e.

 files: ['src/folder1/**']

->

 files: ['src/folder1/**/*.js', 'src/folder1/**/*.css']

is much more performant

2. use 'cwd`:

files: ['very/long/path/**/*.js']

->

files: ['**/*.js'],
options: {
    cwd: 'very/long/path'
}