I have two windows open on the same machine (Ubuntu 9, ia32, server). I'll call these windows W1 and W2.

W1:

$ cd ~/test  
$ ls  
sample  
$  

In W2 I run "make" from a parent directory that recreates file test/sample:

$ make project
.
.
$ cd test
$ ls 
sample
$

Now, returning to W1:

$ ls
$ cd ../test
$ ls 
sample
$

In other words, after I build from another window and the file test/sample is replaced, ls shows the file as missing in the 2nd window until I cd ../test back into the directory whereupon it reappears.

I can give more details if required, but just wondering if this is a well-known behavior.