[plug] tail -f /var/log/messages

[Matt Kemner]

> On Tue, May 30, 2000 at 09:18:34AM +0800, Earnshaw, Mike wrote:
> > List,
> > 
> > I am trying to monitor the /var/log/messages file in a quick smart
> > fashion (I hesitate to use the term real time), I normally use
> > 
> > tail -f /var/log/messages
> > 
> > but there seems to be some delay before the screen reflects what has
> > happened in the log. Is there a way to increase the "polling speed" of
> > this command. 'Man tail' on my machine did not indicate so.

I don't think it's tail that is lagging here, I think it is syslogd which
isn't writing the the file immediately an event occurs.

I don't know of any way to speed it up though.

On Tue, 30 May 2000, Peter Wright wrote:
 
> You can of course configure syslogd to output directly to the Linux
> console if you wish, though that can be incredibly annoying if you're
> actually using the console to do work.

I routinely configure syslogd.conf to send _everything_ to /dev/tty11
That way I can glance at the syslog with a quick alt-F11 keystroke.

For a bit of fun, create a fifo (eg "mkfifo /dev/syslog")
then add the following line to syslog.conf:
*.*		|/dev/syslog

After you've restarted syslog, run the command:
"cat /dev/syslog|/usr/games/chef"

Providing you have '/usr/games/chef' installed, you should now see
everything your syslogd reports, reported by "swedish chef"

 - Matt (bork bork bork)