README
1=== CHANGES ===
2
3v2.1 - Stamps out a Y2K bug and now uses GNU autoconf.
4
5
6=== SUMMARY ===
7
8"xtail" watches the growth of files. It's like running a "tail -f"
9on a bunch of files at once. The syntax is:
10
11 xtail name ...
12
13You can specify both filenames and directories on the command line.
14If you specify a directory, it watches all the files in that
15directory. It will notice when new files are created (and start
16watching them) or when old files are deleted (and stop watching
17them).
18
19I originally wrote this program so I could run:
20
21 xtail /usr/spool/uucp/.Log/*
22
23Even though I don't use "uucp" any more, I still use this utility
24a lot. These days, my favorite is:
25
26 xtail /var/log/* /usenet/lib/*log
27
28
29=== INSTRUCTIONS ===
30
31 - xtail version 2 requires an ANSI compiler such as gcc.
32 - Run: sh configure
33 - If you'd like, review the configuration definitions in xtail.h
34 - Run: make
35 - If you'd like, as root run: make install
36
37
38=== HISTORICAL NOTES ===
39
40This program is an oldie but goodie. It was posted to comp.sources.misc
41in July 1989 (see ftp.uu.net:/usenet/comp.sources.misc/volume7/xtail.Z).
42I remember posting an even earlier version to alt.sources. It has been
43published in the O'Reilly & Associates "Unix Power Tools" collection
44(book and CD-ROM).
45
46Over the years, some fly-by-night organizations (such as the MIT X
47Consortium and SGI) have tried to steal the "xtail" name. Don't be
48fooled! Insist on the original.
49
50The 1989 release credited David Dykstra for his contributions.
51
52Chip Rosenthal
53<chip@unicom.com>
54
55$Id: README,v 2.4 2000/06/04 05:15:35 chip Exp $
56