diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | README | 26 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | inotail.c | 4 |
2 files changed, 25 insertions, 5 deletions
@@ -8,9 +8,6 @@ versions of the Linux kernel to speed up tailing files in the follow mode (the listens to special events sent by the kernel through the inotify API to determine whether a file needs to be reread. -Currently inotail is not fully compatible to neither POSIX or GNU tail but might -be in the future. - Requirements ------------ - Linux kernel 2.6.13 or higher with CONFIG_INOTIFY enabled @@ -33,6 +30,29 @@ inotail binary to /usr/ and the manpage to /usr/share/man/ respectively type: $ make prefix=/usr install +Compatibility & options +----------------------- +inotail is fully option compatible with current POSIX and GNU tail, though the +obsolescent options present in previous versions of those are not present (e.g. +inotail +/-<num>). The following options are present in inotail for +compatibility reasons (e.g. to use inotail as a tail replacement in scripts) but +do have no effect on inotail besides emiting a warning: + +-s N, --sleep-interval=N inotail does not need a sleep interval because it's + relying on inotify. + +--max-unchanged-stats=N inotail watches the containing directory of the file + when following by name (--follow=name or -F). Thus it + gets notified when a file gets moved or deleted. + +--pid=PID Watching the writer PID ios not possible, because + inotail blocks on the read() call on the inotify fd. + In the worst case, the dying process wouldn't cause an + inotify event, so inotail would never get back from + the read(). + +These options are neither documented in the manpage nor the in-program help. + License ------- inotail is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 @@ -783,7 +783,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) case 's': /* No sleep interval because we're never sleeping. * That's the whole point of inotail! */ - fprintf(stderr, "Warning: Option '-s' has no effect in inotail\n"); + fprintf(stderr, "Warning: Option '-s' has no effect, ignoring\n"); break; case PID_OPTION: /* Watching the PID is not possible because of the @@ -792,7 +792,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) /* inotail (will) watch the containing directory for the * file being moved or deleted, so there is no need for * this either */ - fprintf(stderr, "Warning: Option '--%s' has no effect in inotail\n", long_opts[option_idx].name); + fprintf(stderr, "Warning: Option '--%s' has no effect, ignoring\n", long_opts[option_idx].name); break; default: usage(EXIT_FAILURE); |