LOGTAIL(8) logtail2 manual LOGTAIL(8)
NAME
logtail2 - print log file lines that have not been read
SYNOPSIS
logtail2 [-t] -flogfile [-ooffsetfile]
DESCRIPTION
logtail2 reads a specified file (usually a log file) and writes to the
standard output that part of it which has not been read by previous runs
of logtail2. It prints the appropriate number of bytes from the end of
logfile, assuming that all changes that are made to it are to add new
characters to it.
logfile must be a plain file. A symlink is not allowed.
logtail2 stores the information about how much of it has already been
read in a separate file called offsetfile. offsetfile can be omitted.
If omitted, the file named logfile.offset in the same directory which
contains logfile is used by default.
If offsetfile is not empty, the inode of logfile is checked. If the in-
ode is changed, logtail2 uses the heuristics stored in /usr/share/log-
tail/detectrotate/ to find a file that might be the rotated logfile and
prints it starting with the stored offset. It then proceeds to simply
print the entire new file and generates a new offsetfile. If the inode
is not changed but logfile is shorter than it was at the last run of
logtail2, it writes a warning message to the standard output.
OPTIONS
-f logfile to be read after offset
-o offsetfile stores offset of previous run
-t test mode - do not change offset in offsetfile
RETURN VALUES
0 successful
65 cannot get the size of logfile
66 general file or directory access issue
73 cannot write offsetfile
AUTHOR
The original logtail was written in C by Craig H. Rowland <crow-
land@psionic.com>. This version of logtail is a modification of Paul
Slootman's re-implementation in perl. enhanced by the Debian Logcheck
Team <logcheck@packages.debian.org>.
This manual was written by Oohara Yuuma <oohara@libra.interq.or.jp> and
enhanced by the Debian Logcheck Team <logcheck@packages.debian.org>..
SEE ALSO
logcheck(8)
Debian 28 Jul 2007 LOGTAIL(8)
Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Tue Dec 16 07:33:46 CET 2025.