AnonymousFox

//usr/share/doc/perl-File-Tail/README

The File::Tail module is designed for reading files which are continously
appended to (the name comes from the tail -f directive). Usualy such files are
logfiles of some description.

The module tries hard not to busy wait on the file, dynamicaly calcultaing 
how long it should wait before it pays to try reading the file again.

The module should handle normal log truncations ("close; move; open"
or "cat /dev/null >file") transparently, without losing any input.

Currently this package requires Time::HiRes, because it often needs to sleep
for less than one second. (I don't beleive one should busy wait on a file
just because it gets more than one line/second).

The file logwatch is a simple example of use. Try it with 
./logwatch /var/log/syslog 1 if you want to see how File::Tail works.

This version now returns a tied filehandle, but it can also be used as 
a normal object.

A feature added in 0.81 is tail -n functionality: you can demand to read the 
last n lines, reading from the current end of file, or reading from the start
of file.

Select was added in version 0.90. It allows you to simoultaneously read from
several File::Tail objects at the same time, while also reading from pipes.
This is a new implementation, so if you notice any bugs, please let me know.
*************************************************************************
Version 0.90 had a bug in "select" which caused it to sometimes overlook
input waiting on ordinary files until there was input on tailed files.
*************************************************************************
NOTE: Select functionality is currently experimental. Consider this a public 
beta. If you notice any new problems, let me know. I will also entertain 
suggestions for changes in the select interface - but only until I release
the next version.

To build this module, enter
perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
make install

If you have any problems, contact me at matija.grabnar@arnes.si