1LOGTAIL(8) logtail manual LOGTAIL(8)
2
6 logtail - print log file lines that have not been read
7
9 logtail [-t] -flogfile [-ooffsetfile]
10
12 logtail reads a specified file (usually a log file) and writes to the
13 standard output that part of it which has not been read by previous
14 runs of logtail. It prints the appropriate number of bytes from the
15 end of logfile, assuming that all changes that are made to it are to
16 add new characters to it.
17 logfile must be a plain file. A symlink is not allowed.
19 logtail stores the information about how much of it has already been
21 read in a separate file called offsetfile. offsetfile can be omitted.
22 If omitted, the file named logfile.offset in the same directory which
23 contains logfile is used by default.
24 If offsetfile is not empty, the inode of logfile is checked. If the
26 inode is changed, logtail simply prints the entire file. If the inode
27 is not changed but logfile is shorter than it was at the last run of
28 logtail, it writes a warning message to the standard output.
29
31 -f logfile to be read after offset
32 -o offsetfile stores offset of previous run
34 -t test mode - do not change offset in offsetfile
36
38 0 successful
39 65 cannot get the size of logfile
41 66 logfile does not exist, is not a plain file, or is not readable
43 73 cannot write offsetfile
45
47 The original logtail was written in C by Craig H. Rowland <crow‐
48 land@psionic.com>. This version of logtail is a Perl reimplementation
49 by Paul Slootman <paul@debian.org>. Enhanced by the Debian Logcheck
50 Team <logcheck-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org>.
51 This manual was written by Oohara Yuuma <oohara@libra.interq.or.jp>.
53
55 logcheck(8)
56Debian Fri, 19 Nov 2004 LOGTAIL(8)