This would probably not be generic across platforms. Linux has a change notify capability now, for example. But nothing like that exists in the HPUX kernel. However, samba does have the feature enbedded, since it is a filesystem - NFS.
Other Samba Configuration Issues
So in this sense you can have change notification on a kernel with out it - by modifying the filesystem code. Which is not very practical.

If you are working in the Linux world you can read about inotify (inode notify) here:
Kernel Korner - Intro to inotify