diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 85f579c40..6a3647cb1 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ serde_json = "1"
 num_cpus = "1"
 fs2={version="0.4", optional=true}
 levenshtein_automata = "0.2"
-notify = {version="4", optional=true}
 uuid = { version = "0.8", features = ["v4", "serde"] }
 crossbeam = "0.8"
 futures = {version = "0.3",  features=["thread-pool"] }
@@ -73,7 +72,7 @@ overflow-checks = true
 
 [features]
 default = ["mmap"]
-mmap = ["fs2", "tempfile", "memmap", "notify"]
+mmap = ["fs2", "tempfile", "memmap"]
 brotli-compression = ["brotli"]
 lz4-compression = ["lz4"]
 failpoints = ["fail/failpoints"]
diff --git a/src/directory/file_watcher.rs b/src/directory/file_watcher.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..27cbaddf9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/directory/file_watcher.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,138 @@
+use crate::directory::{WatchCallback, WatchCallbackList, WatchHandle};
+use crc32fast::Hasher;
+use std::fs;
+use std::io;
+use std::io::BufRead;
+use std::path::PathBuf;
+use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicUsize, Ordering};
+use std::sync::Arc;
+use std::thread;
+use std::time::Duration;
+
+pub const POLLING_INTERVAL: Duration = Duration::from_millis(if cfg!(test) { 1 } else { 500 });
+
+// Watches a file and executes registered callbacks when the file is modified.
+pub struct FileWatcher {
+    path: Arc<PathBuf>,
+    callbacks: Arc<WatchCallbackList>,
+    state: Arc<AtomicUsize>, // 0: new, 1: runnable, 2: terminated
+}
+
+impl FileWatcher {
+    pub fn new(path: &PathBuf) -> FileWatcher {
+        FileWatcher {
+            path: Arc::new(path.clone()),
+            callbacks: Default::default(),
+            state: Default::default(),
+        }
+    }
+
+    pub fn spawn(&self) {
+        if self.state.compare_and_swap(0, 1, Ordering::SeqCst) > 0 {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        let path = self.path.clone();
+        let callbacks = self.callbacks.clone();
+        let state = self.state.clone();
+
+        thread::Builder::new()
+            .name("thread-tantivy-meta-file-watcher".to_string())
+            .spawn(move || {
+                let mut current_checksum = None;
+
+                while state.load(Ordering::SeqCst) == 1 {
+                    if let Ok(checksum) = FileWatcher::compute_checksum(&path) {
+                        // `None.unwrap_or_else(|| !checksum) != checksum` evaluates to `true`
+                        if current_checksum.unwrap_or_else(|| !checksum) != checksum {
+                            info!("Meta file {:?} was modified", path);
+                            current_checksum = Some(checksum);
+                            futures::executor::block_on(callbacks.broadcast());
+                        }
+                    }
+
+                    thread::sleep(POLLING_INTERVAL);
+                }
+            })
+            .expect("Failed to spawn meta file watcher thread");
+    }
+
+    pub fn watch(&self, callback: WatchCallback) -> WatchHandle {
+        let handle = self.callbacks.subscribe(callback);
+        self.spawn();
+        handle
+    }
+
+    fn compute_checksum(path: &PathBuf) -> Result<u32, io::Error> {
+        let reader = match fs::File::open(path) {
+            Ok(f) => io::BufReader::new(f),
+            Err(e) => {
+                warn!("Failed to open meta file {:?}: {:?}", path, e);
+                return Err(e);
+            }
+        };
+
+        let mut hasher = Hasher::new();
+
+        for line in reader.lines() {
+            hasher.update(line?.as_bytes())
+        }
+
+        Ok(hasher.finalize())
+    }
+}
+
+impl Drop for FileWatcher {
+    fn drop(&mut self) {
+        self.state.store(2, Ordering::SeqCst);
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+
+    use super::*;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_file_watcher() {
+        let tmp_dir = tempfile::TempDir::new().unwrap();
+        let tmp_file = tmp_dir.path().join("watched.txt");
+
+        let counter: Arc<AtomicUsize> = Default::default();
+        let _handle;
+        let state;
+        let (tx, rx) = crossbeam::channel::unbounded();
+        let timeout = Duration::from_millis(100);
+
+        {
+            let watcher = FileWatcher::new(&tmp_file);
+
+            state = watcher.state.clone();
+            assert_eq!(state.load(Ordering::SeqCst), 0);
+
+            let counter_clone = counter.clone();
+
+            _handle = watcher.watch(Box::new(move || {
+                let val = counter_clone.fetch_add(1, Ordering::SeqCst);
+                tx.send(val + 1).unwrap();
+            }));
+
+            assert_eq!(counter.load(Ordering::SeqCst), 0);
+            assert_eq!(state.load(Ordering::SeqCst), 1);
+
+            fs::write(&tmp_file, b"foo").unwrap();
+            assert_eq!(rx.recv_timeout(timeout), Ok(1));
+
+            fs::write(&tmp_file, b"foo").unwrap();
+            assert!(rx.recv_timeout(timeout).is_err());
+
+            fs::write(&tmp_file, b"bar").unwrap();
+            assert_eq!(rx.recv_timeout(timeout), Ok(2));
+        }
+
+        fs::write(&tmp_file, b"qux").unwrap();
+        thread::sleep(Duration::from_millis(10));
+        assert_eq!(counter.load(Ordering::SeqCst), 2);
+        assert_eq!(state.load(Ordering::SeqCst), 2);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/directory/mmap_directory.rs b/src/directory/mmap_directory.rs
index 89bdffff8..6093f0c93 100644
--- a/src/directory/mmap_directory.rs
+++ b/src/directory/mmap_directory.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 use crate::core::META_FILEPATH;
 use crate::directory::error::LockError;
 use crate::directory::error::{DeleteError, OpenDirectoryError, OpenReadError, OpenWriteError};
+use crate::directory::file_watcher::FileWatcher;
 use crate::directory::AntiCallToken;
 use crate::directory::BoxedData;
 use crate::directory::Directory;
@@ -8,14 +9,10 @@ use crate::directory::DirectoryLock;
 use crate::directory::FileSlice;
 use crate::directory::Lock;
 use crate::directory::WatchCallback;
-use crate::directory::WatchCallbackList;
 use crate::directory::WatchHandle;
 use crate::directory::{TerminatingWrite, WritePtr};
 use fs2::FileExt;
 use memmap::Mmap;
-use notify::RawEvent;
-use notify::RecursiveMode;
-use notify::Watcher;
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 use stable_deref_trait::StableDeref;
 use std::convert::From;
@@ -26,12 +23,9 @@ use std::io::{self, Seek, SeekFrom};
 use std::io::{BufWriter, Read, Write};
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
 use std::result;
-use std::sync::mpsc::{channel, Receiver, Sender};
 use std::sync::Arc;
-use std::sync::Mutex;
 use std::sync::RwLock;
 use std::sync::Weak;
-use std::thread;
 use std::{collections::HashMap, ops::Deref};
 use tempfile::TempDir;
 
@@ -137,67 +131,6 @@ impl MmapCache {
     }
 }
 
-struct WatcherWrapper {
-    _watcher: Mutex<notify::RecommendedWatcher>,
-    watcher_router: Arc<WatchCallbackList>,
-}
-
-impl WatcherWrapper {
-    pub fn new(path: &Path) -> Result<Self, OpenDirectoryError> {
-        let (tx, watcher_recv): (Sender<RawEvent>, Receiver<RawEvent>) = channel();
-        // We need to initialize the
-        let watcher = notify::raw_watcher(tx)
-            .and_then(|mut watcher| {
-                watcher.watch(path, RecursiveMode::Recursive)?;
-                Ok(watcher)
-            })
-            .map_err(|err| match err {
-                notify::Error::PathNotFound => OpenDirectoryError::DoesNotExist(path.to_owned()),
-                _ => {
-                    panic!("Unknown error while starting watching directory {:?}", path);
-                }
-            })?;
-        let watcher_router: Arc<WatchCallbackList> = Default::default();
-        let watcher_router_clone = watcher_router.clone();
-        thread::Builder::new()
-            .name("meta-file-watch-thread".to_string())
-            .spawn(move || {
-                loop {
-                    match watcher_recv.recv().map(|evt| evt.path) {
-                        Ok(Some(changed_path)) => {
-                            // ... Actually subject to false positive.
-                            // We might want to be more accurate than this at one point.
-                            if let Some(filename) = changed_path.file_name() {
-                                if filename == *META_FILEPATH {
-                                    let _ = watcher_router_clone.broadcast();
-                                }
-                            }
-                        }
-                        Ok(None) => {
-                            // not an event we are interested in.
-                        }
-                        Err(_e) => {
-                            // the watch send channel was dropped
-                            break;
-                        }
-                    }
-                }
-            })
-            .map_err(|io_error| OpenDirectoryError::IoError {
-                io_error,
-                directory_path: path.to_path_buf(),
-            })?;
-        Ok(WatcherWrapper {
-            _watcher: Mutex::new(watcher),
-            watcher_router,
-        })
-    }
-
-    pub fn watch(&mut self, watch_callback: WatchCallback) -> WatchHandle {
-        self.watcher_router.subscribe(watch_callback)
-    }
-}
-
 /// Directory storing data in files, read via mmap.
 ///
 /// The Mmap object are cached to limit the
@@ -219,40 +152,21 @@ struct MmapDirectoryInner {
     root_path: PathBuf,
     mmap_cache: RwLock<MmapCache>,
     _temp_directory: Option<TempDir>,
-    watcher: RwLock<Option<WatcherWrapper>>,
+    watcher: FileWatcher,
 }
 
 impl MmapDirectoryInner {
     fn new(root_path: PathBuf, temp_directory: Option<TempDir>) -> MmapDirectoryInner {
         MmapDirectoryInner {
-            root_path,
             mmap_cache: Default::default(),
             _temp_directory: temp_directory,
-            watcher: RwLock::new(None),
+            watcher: FileWatcher::new(&root_path.join(*META_FILEPATH)),
+            root_path: root_path,
         }
     }
 
-    fn watch(&self, watch_callback: WatchCallback) -> crate::Result<WatchHandle> {
-        // a lot of juggling here, to ensure we don't do anything that panics
-        // while the rwlock is held. That way we ensure that the rwlock cannot
-        // be poisoned.
-        //
-        // The downside is that we might create a watch wrapper that is not useful.
-        let need_initialization = self.watcher.read().unwrap().is_none();
-        if need_initialization {
-            let watch_wrapper = WatcherWrapper::new(&self.root_path)?;
-            let mut watch_wlock = self.watcher.write().unwrap();
-            // the watcher could have been initialized when we released the lock, and
-            // we do not want to lose the watched files that were set.
-            if watch_wlock.is_none() {
-                *watch_wlock = Some(watch_wrapper);
-            }
-        }
-        if let Some(watch_wrapper) = self.watcher.write().unwrap().as_mut() {
-            Ok(watch_wrapper.watch(watch_callback))
-        } else {
-            unreachable!("At this point, watch wrapper is supposed to be initialized");
-        }
+    fn watch(&self, callback: WatchCallback) -> crate::Result<WatchHandle> {
+        Ok(self.watcher.watch(callback))
     }
 }
 
@@ -557,8 +471,6 @@ mod tests {
     use crate::Index;
     use crate::ReloadPolicy;
     use crate::{common::HasLen, indexer::LogMergePolicy};
-    use std::fs;
-    use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicUsize, Ordering};
 
     #[test]
     fn test_open_non_existent_path() {
@@ -647,27 +559,6 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(mmap_directory.get_cache_info().mmapped.len(), 0);
     }
 
-    #[test]
-    fn test_watch_wrapper() {
-        let counter: Arc<AtomicUsize> = Default::default();
-        let counter_clone = counter.clone();
-        let tmp_dir = tempfile::TempDir::new().unwrap();
-        let tmp_dirpath = tmp_dir.path().to_owned();
-        let mut watch_wrapper = WatcherWrapper::new(&tmp_dirpath).unwrap();
-        let tmp_file = tmp_dirpath.join(*META_FILEPATH);
-        let _handle = watch_wrapper.watch(Box::new(move || {
-            counter_clone.fetch_add(1, Ordering::SeqCst);
-        }));
-        let (sender, receiver) = crossbeam::channel::unbounded();
-        let _handle2 = watch_wrapper.watch(Box::new(move || {
-            let _ = sender.send(());
-        }));
-        assert_eq!(counter.load(Ordering::SeqCst), 0);
-        fs::write(&tmp_file, b"whateverwilldo").unwrap();
-        assert!(receiver.recv().is_ok());
-        assert!(counter.load(Ordering::SeqCst) >= 1);
-    }
-
     #[test]
     fn test_mmap_released() {
         let mmap_directory = MmapDirectory::create_from_tempdir().unwrap();
diff --git a/src/directory/mod.rs b/src/directory/mod.rs
index c52b62526..ae65833d0 100644
--- a/src/directory/mod.rs
+++ b/src/directory/mod.rs
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ mod mmap_directory;
 mod directory;
 mod directory_lock;
 mod file_slice;
+mod file_watcher;
 mod footer;
 mod managed_directory;
 mod owned_bytes;
diff --git a/src/directory/tests.rs b/src/directory/tests.rs
index dceda43f2..b677e9590 100644
--- a/src/directory/tests.rs
+++ b/src/directory/tests.rs
@@ -190,38 +190,33 @@ fn test_directory_delete(directory: &dyn Directory) -> crate::Result<()> {
 }
 
 fn test_watch(directory: &dyn Directory) {
-    let num_progress: Arc<AtomicUsize> = Default::default();
     let counter: Arc<AtomicUsize> = Default::default();
-    let counter_clone = counter.clone();
-    let (sender, receiver) = crossbeam::channel::unbounded();
-    let watch_callback = Box::new(move || {
-        counter_clone.fetch_add(1, SeqCst);
-    });
-    // This callback is used to synchronize watching in our unit test.
-    // We bind it to a variable because the callback is removed when that
-    // handle is dropped.
-    let watch_handle = directory.watch(watch_callback).unwrap();
-    let _progress_listener = directory
+    let (tx, rx) = crossbeam::channel::unbounded();
+    let timeout = Duration::from_millis(500);
+
+    let handle = directory
         .watch(Box::new(move || {
-            let val = num_progress.fetch_add(1, SeqCst);
-            let _ = sender.send(val);
+            let val = counter.fetch_add(1, SeqCst);
+            tx.send(val + 1).unwrap();
         }))
         .unwrap();
 
-    for i in 0..10 {
-        assert!(i <= counter.load(SeqCst));
-        assert!(directory
-            .atomic_write(Path::new("meta.json"), b"random_test_data_2")
-            .is_ok());
-        assert_eq!(receiver.recv_timeout(Duration::from_millis(500)), Ok(i));
-        assert!(i + 1 <= counter.load(SeqCst)); // notify can trigger more than once.
-    }
-    mem::drop(watch_handle);
     assert!(directory
-        .atomic_write(Path::new("meta.json"), b"random_test_data")
+        .atomic_write(Path::new("meta.json"), b"foo")
         .is_ok());
-    assert!(receiver.recv_timeout(Duration::from_millis(500)).is_ok());
-    assert!(10 <= counter.load(SeqCst));
+    assert_eq!(rx.recv_timeout(timeout), Ok(1));
+
+    assert!(directory
+        .atomic_write(Path::new("meta.json"), b"bar")
+        .is_ok());
+    assert_eq!(rx.recv_timeout(timeout), Ok(2));
+
+    mem::drop(handle);
+
+    assert!(directory
+        .atomic_write(Path::new("meta.json"), b"qux")
+        .is_ok());
+    assert!(rx.recv_timeout(timeout).is_err());
 }
 
 fn test_lock_non_blocking(directory: &dyn Directory) {