### tail-2.1 README file

    "xtail" watches the growth of files.  It is similar to "tail -f", but may
    watch many files at once.  The syntax is:

    	xtail pathname ...

    "xtail" will monitor all the specified files and display information added
    to them.  If you specify a directory name, "xtail" will watch all the
    files in that directory - including those created after "xtail" was
    started.  If you give "xtail" a name which doesn't exist, it will watch
    for the creation of the named entry.  My favorite usage is:

    	xtail /usr/spool/uucp/.Log/*

    "xtail" is distributed with a configuration for SCO XENIX.  It has also
    been tested on MIPS System V.  I took a shot at BSD portability.  The
    main difference is how the "directory" support library is accessed.

    To build "xtail":

    	- edit the definitions in "xtail.h"
    	- run a "make"

    A version of "xtail" was originally posted in alt.sources a few months
    back.  There are several improvements between this version and the
    original:

           - the ability to watch directories
           - the ability to watch entries which don't exist yet
           - the recently changed files display (given upon SIGINT)
           - performance improvements
           - portability improvements

    Many of these changes were suggested by David Dykstra <dwd@cbnewsc.ATT.COM>.
    The idea of keeping files open and use fstat() rather than stat() was
    suggested by changes by another poster (sorry, I lost the article so I
    can't provide credit).  However, that version kept *everything* open, and
    that just eats too many entries in the file table for me.  You can tweak
    the values in "xtail.h" to optimize the response/load characteristics of
    "xtail".

    Chip Rosenthal
    <chip@vector.Dallas.TX.US>

    @(#) README 2.1 89/07/26 19:16:34